A host of other amendments are in prospect for grafting onto the ballooning Senate energy bill (S. 1766 ). This list, provided by the Democratic Party's Policy Committee, excludes nonenergy-related amendments.
While tentatively proposed as of Mar. 31, none of the following has been officially considered yet:
- Industrial safety rules (Bunning No. 2985). Requires, within 180 days of enactment, that the Department of Energy issue industrial health and safety regulations for contractors and subcontractors at nuclear facilities.
- Energy market trading (Feinstein No. 2989). Provides antifraud and antimanipulation authority to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over all energy and metal derivative transactions (transactions where there is no delivery). Electronic exchanges trading energy derivatives would be subject to registration, transparency, disclosure, and reporting obligations similar to nonelectronic exchanges.
- Ethanol (Inhofe No. 2994). Phases out the ethanol tax credit as the market share of ethanol increases.
- Renewable fuels (Dayton No. 3008). Requires federal agencies to increase their use of renewable fuels in the federal fleet.
- Oxygenate waiver (Grassley No. 3013). Strikes the provision allowing states to receive a waiver of the oxygenate requirement for reformulated gasoline under the Clean Air Act.
- Nuclear waste transportation report (Carnahan No. 3015). Requires the Government Accounting Office, within 6 months of enactment, to study DOE procedures for the selection and assessment of routes for shipment of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.
- Renewable fuel (Feinstein No. 3018). Requires the production of 1.8 billion gal/year of renewable fuel by 2004.
- Renewable fuel waiver (Feinstein No. 3019). Requires the Environmental Protection Agency to approve or disapprove within 30 days a state request to waive the renewable fuel requirement.
- Renewable fuel (Feinstein No. 3020). Delays the renewable fuel requirement by 3 years.
- Renewable fuels (Boxer No. 3021). Strikes the renewable fuels "safe harbor" provision under Section 819 and provides that renewable fuel must have at least the same stringent liability standards as other fuels.
- Cellulosic biomass ethanol (Boxer No. 3022).Provides assistance to producers in building eligible facilities for the production of cellulosic biomass ethanol and increases credit for ethanol derived from biomass or agricultural residues.
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Voinovich No. 3024). Makes changes to certain regulations enforced by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
- Technical amendment (Inhofe No. 3025). Inserts the phrase "flexible alternating current transmission system" into the enhanced renewable energy research and development provisions in Section 1221.
- State energy plans (Landrieu No. 3026). Calls for each state to provide a plan to the US Secretary of Energy within 1 year after the bill is enacted describing how the state would bring its energy production to within 85% of its energy consumption in the next 10 years.
- Electricity (Craig No. 3027). Strikes the entire electricity title in the bill and replaces it with provisions regarding electric reliability and allows states to establish rules for information disclosure and consumer privacy.
- Renewable fuels (Schumer No. 3030). Strikes the renewable fuels provisions in Section 819.
- Superfund (Torricelli No. 3037). Reinstates the Superfund tax for 5 years.
- Vending machines (Rockefeller No. 3042). Provides credit for energy-efficient vending machines.
- Coal material recycling (Rockefeller No. 3043). Provides credit for recycling certain coal combustion waste materials.
- Metering technology (Rockefeller No. 3044). Amends the energy tax incentive provisions to include a tax incentive for "time-of-use" metering technology that provides consumers with information regarding their energy usage other than the web-enabled meters.
- Mine inspectors (Rockefeller No. 3045). Establishes a program to hire and train additional mine inspectors.
- Low income gasoline assistance program (Rockefeller No. 3046). Establishes a program to provide assistance to low-income working families to meet the increasing price of gasoline.Electricity (Craig No. 3047). Strikes the electricity title and replaces it with electric reliability provisions and limited consumer protections.
- Energy efficiency study (Gordon Smith No. 3048). Directs the National Academy of Sciences to study and issue a report on the goals of energy efficiency standards within 1 year.
- Electricity (Landrieu No. 3050). Charges participant-funded rates for electricity and switches the burden of the cost of added transmission capacity from "native load bearers," which already have adequate electricity, to new markets in need of additional electricity.
- Renewable energy (Fitzgerald No. 3051). Excludes municipal solid waste and forests from the definition of "biomass" within the renewable energy provisions.
- Federal procurement report (Grassley No. 3053). Requires the General Services Administration to submit to Congress, within 180 days of enactment, a review of federal procurement initiatives relating to the use of recycled products and fleet and transportation efficiency.
- Motor vehicle fuel (Grassley No. 3054). Prohibits use of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in motor vehicle fuel 4 years after enactment.
- Interstate dairy compact (Grassley No. 3055). Prohibits a state located in the Petroleum Administration for Defense District I (East Coast) from entering into an interstate dairy compact.
- Motor vehicle fuel study (Grassley No. 3056). Includes language regarding MTBE in groundwater, prohibits use of MTBE 4 years after enactment, provides grants to MTBE producers in converting production facilities, and requires DOE to issue a report on motor vehicle fuel requirements.
- Biomass (Graham No. 3070). Clarifies the definition of "biomass" as a renewable energy source.
- Iraqi oil ban (Murkowski No. 3071). Prohibits imports of Iraqi oil into the US.
- Consumer energy commission (Durbin No. 3072). Establishes a Consumer Energy Commission, appointed on a bipartisan basis and comprising representatives of consumer groups, energy industries, and energy and trade-related federal agencies, to study the causes of energy price spikes and make recommendations on how to avert price spikes in the future.
- Wind energy credit (Durbin No. 3073). Provides credit for wind energy property installed in residences and businesses.
- Conserve by Bike Program (Durbin No. 3074). Establishes a pilot program within the Department of Transportation to facilitate pilot projects throughout the country designed to provide tools to convert car trips to bike trips, in order to conserve energy resources used in the transportation sector. The amendment would also direct the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on converting car trips to bike trips.
- Motor vehicle fuel study (Grassley No. 3075). Includes additional language regarding MTBE in motor vehicle fuel and requires DOE to issue a report on motor vehicle fuel requirements.
- Advanced nuclear reactor licensing (Landrieu). Expedites procedures to license advanced nuclear reactors.
- Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (Landrieu). Addresses the formula for distribution of LIHEAP funding.
- Renewable definition (Jeffords). Narrows the definition of "renewable energy sources" to exclude municipal solid waste.
- Tax incentives (Baucus). Includes the energy tax incentive provisions totaling $16.04 billion passed by the Senate Committee on Finance on Feb. 13, 2002.
- Air conditioner standard (Cochran). Strikes the central air conditioner efficiency standard, SEER 13, and replaces it with a lower standard, SEER 12, and intervenes in a pending lawsuit.
- Transmission (Dorgan). This Sense of the Senate amendment would state that efforts to site and construct energy resources should be coordinated, to the greatest extent possible, with local, regional, and national tansmission studies and plans, such as those being conducted by "Wind on the Wires."
- Energy efficiency (Cantwell). Provides for research and development of cooling technologies to improve the energy efficiency of high power-density, electronics-based industries.
- Renewable energy (Cantwell). Makes a technical change to the language defining entities eligible to participate in the Renewable Energy Production Incentive program.
- Electricity (Cantwell). Directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to put in place rules and procedures that ensure that wholesale energy markets function properly.
- Electricity mergers (Dayton). Strengthens certain provisions relating to mergers of electricity producers.
- Renewable Portfolio Standard (Nickles). Changes the RPS in the bill from generation-based to capacity-based-which would effectively eliminate the RPS provision.
- Nuclear facilities (Thurmond). Allows construction of commercial nuclear facilities at DOE sites.
