US House repasses sweeping energy legislation

June 21, 2004
The Republican-controlled US House June 16 repassed sweeping energy legislation in what industry lobbyists called a largely symbolic move.

The Republican-controlled US House June 16 repassed sweeping energy legislation in what industry lobbyists called a largely symbolic move.

Although also under Republican control, the US Senate is not expected to approve much of the energy-related legislation now going through the House. That's largely due to election year politics and the unique parliamentary rules of the 100 member Senate chamber that often demand that at least 60 lawmakers agree on a proposal or face having the measure talked to death through a filibuster. And reaching that nearly two-thirds consensus is proving to be ever more elusive as the presidential campaign ramps up.

House energy week

On a 244-178 vote, the House passed HR 4503, legislation that mirrors an earlier bill, HR 6, that so far has failed to win final Senate approval. The action marks the fourth time in 3 years that the House has passed comprehensive energy legislation. But the Senate, and to a certain extent the White House, have blocked those proposals from becoming law.

The White House, through its own energy policy blueprint published in 2001, has called for a comprehensive energy bill to help open parts of Alaska currently off-limits to drilling and to provide clearer authority to regulators on electricity and fuel distribution issues. But it has never endorsed the $31 billion energy tax plan included in the House bill; about $8 billion of that total is aimed at oil and gas producers, according to congressional budget estimators.

President George W. Bush has said repeatedly he wants Congress to pass comprehensive energy legislation. But in correspondence to legislators, the administration has expressed its displeasure with the tax provisions, which also have been a sore spot among fiscal conservatives in the Senate and most Democrats outside energy-producing states.

Most recently, Sec. of the Interior Gale Norton told reporters June 16 at a media luncheon that Congress "should be working closely on these things to keep the price tag manageable."

Meanwhile, a provision that would grant limited liability protection to fuel suppliers that blend the oxygenate methyl tertiary butyl ether into gasoline has proven to be a major sticking point in the Senate; several states have banned the additive because it has exacerbated groundwater contamination problems in some urban areas, especially in California and parts of the Northeast.

MTBE producers acknowledge their product is very soluble in water but say the contamination problems are due in large part to leaking underground fuel storage tanks, not the MTBE itself.

The House and Senate previously agreed to a "renewable fuels standard" that would essentially triple the use of fuel ethanol in the nation's gasoline supply over the decade. But the MTBE liability provisions remain controversial, and efforts to move the ethanol legislation onto a less volatile bill in the Senate have failed so far.

Meanwhile high retail gasoline prices at the pump and large quarterly profits for many large oil companies aren't helping to sell the tax portion of the House energy package, even though the bill also includes large tax benefits for alternative and renewable fuels.

Outside HR 6

In other House action, lawmakers passed on a 229-186 vote a bill (HR 4513) that would streamline siting of renewable energy projects built on federal lands. Other votes during what House Republican leaders have dubbed "Energy Week" also are expected to fall largely along party lines.

One small victory for environmental groups came in midweek last week when House leaders postponed a standalone vote on opening a portion of the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

House leaders, however, were still planning to consider another measure designed to reduce the number of summer gasoline blends required by the Clean Air Act for the nation's most polluted cities.

Another bill, HR 4517, seeks to help new refinery construction. Sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the "US Refinery Revitalization Act of 2004" would streamline refinery regulatory and approvals. State and local air pollution officials, as well as environmentalists, oppose the measure because they say it weakens clean air standards.