US Senate defers energy reform legislation until 2002

Dec. 3, 2001
Energy reform legislation will not be on the US Senate's legislative agenda until January, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) said late last month.

Energy reform legislation will not be on the US Senate's legislative agenda until January, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) said late last month.

Daschle said there was not enough time to debate a bill, because lawmakers must finish the annual federal budget and are still considering an economic stimulus package. But he pledged to move the issue forward early next year. Congressional leaders plan to leave Washington within 2 weeks for a month-long holiday recess.

Daschle said it was "not only my expectation, but my commitment that we will take the bill up during that first work period," before the next congressional break in mid-February.

The Republican-led House in August passed a sweeping energy reform package that included several controversial provisions supported by industry but opposed by Democrats not from oil-producing states.

The most controversial measure would allow the government to lease a portion of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Another provision opposed by both Democrats and the White House would dramatically expand tax breaks for marginal well production, costing an estimated $8 billion over 10 years. The Republican plan also would expand royalty in-kind programs and create new tax incentives for renewable energy.

A 400-page Democratic alternative being drafted by Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) does not include ANWR drilling but would empower the federal government to provide financial incentives to build a pipeline to move Alaskan gas to the Lower 48. Other items under consideration include retooling clean fuel programs to promote fuel ethanol, strengthening auto fuel efficiency standards, and rewriting existing laws to promote the restructuring of electric power markets.

But what the Senate will be debating is still uncertain. Republican leaders are expected to push for an ANWR leasing provision, but that could create long delays that might doom the chances of passing a comprehensive energy bill. The White House supports ANWR leasing but has not ruled out supporting a bill that omits it.