US Senate resumes energy debate in July

June 23, 2003
The Senate will resume consideration of a comprehensive energy bill immediately after its July 4 recess, Senate Republican leaders said.

The Senate will resume consideration of a comprehensive energy bill immediately after its July 4 recess, Senate Republican leaders said. The House passed a measure in April but a Senate version so far has been elusive. Nevetheless there is a reasonable chance the Senate will pass its own measure, lobbyists say, although several contentious issues remain unresolved.

If the closely divided Senate is able to reach consensus, a conference between the House and Senate to reconcile their differences might happen in late summer or in early fall, according to congressional sources and industry lobbyists. Republican leaders last week won an important battle when they got lawmakers to agree on limiting debate to a list of 350 possible amendments, many of which might never be actively debated but still are allowed to be considered.

Earlier this month, the Senate by a decisive margin agreed to update reformulated gasoline rules within the scope of an energy bill. The measure includes an ethanol mandate plan endorsed by the American Petroleum Institute but opposed by refiners (see related story, this page).

The chamber also approved 99-1 an amendment requiring the White House to submit to Congress an annual snapshot of US foreign oil dependence. The measure says the analysis should be based on the most recent edition of the Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Outlook, and should detail what policymakers are doing to reduce dependence on foreign oil by 2013. The administration also must develop and implement measures to reduce US demand for petroleum by 1 million b/d from the amount projected for calendar year 2013 as cited in the Annual Energy Outlook 2003.

The Senate also passed an amendment calling on the White House to detail US natural gas policy goals. The measure instructs President George W. Bush, under the Department of Energy, to issue a report that projects annual natural gas supplies from domestic and foreign sources under existing federal policies. The report should detail policy options to decrease demand and increase supply.

Although energy legislation may not be actively considered on the floor until early July, congressional staff will likely start trying to broker compromises on contentious items that threaten to derail a bill. These include wholesale electricity market updates, global climate change mitigation, and taxes.