Maureen Lorenzetti
OGJ Online
WASHINGTON, DC, May 24 -- Partisanship is being left at the door when it comes to energy policy, key energy lawmakers and Bush administration officials pledged Thursday.
Those assurances came on the heels of the decision Thursday by Sen. James Jeffords (R-Vt.) to leave the Republican party, shifting control of the Senate to the Democratic party, and control of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee from chairman Frank Murkowski (R-Alas.) to Ranking Minority Member Jeff Bingaman (D-NM).
The actual transfer of the gavel won't be made until the Bush administration's tax bill is passed, now likely Friday morning.
Yet at a Senate energy panel hearing Thursday, featuring Energy Sec. Spencer Abraham, there was already a clear acknowledgement that the new Senate makeup will require the two political parties to be more open to compromise if energy legislation is to move forward this summer.
Abraham stressed, "We start from a wide base of agreement. We all recognize energy as a critical challenge. Both the chairman and ranking member of this committee have sponsored robust energy bills, and I am struck by how much common ground there is between these bills and our proposals."
Bingaman also concurred that his bill "has many areas in common" with the others and added that "we need to identify" areas of mutual agreement.
"We're anxious to get to specifics," he said.
Murkowski also said he hoped the committee would proceed this summer with legislation, although he appeared to disagree with Bingaman that Congress could pass "short-term" measures to modulate energy woes in California and the Midwest.
"It took us 10 years to get into this mess, it may take us that long to get out," Murkowski said.
Bingaman, however, has already outlined some short-term strategies (OGJ Online, May 10, 2001).
Those include: ensuring the Energy Information Administration has enough resources to keep oil market data timely; streamlining federal gasoline standards to ease production and distribution problems; ensuring refinery production is not curtailed during rolling blackouts; requiring all segments of the gasoline supply chain to maximize production and distribution of fuels of the needed quality; and mandating that all federal vehicles capable of using alternative fuels do so.
Despite lingering differences between the two lawmakers, Bush administration officials said they are optimistic compromises are attainable.
Abraham noted that more than 30 of the recommendations included in the White House proposal also are in the Murkowski and Bingaman energy bills.
He cited examples including: supporting a program to help low-income people pay heating and cooling bills; exploring royalty reductions for offshore development; repealing the Public Utility Holding Company Act; reforming the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act; and improving the reliability of the interstate electric transmission system.
Abraham suggested that his department is working to draft legislation that would likely include an emphasis on improving electric power reliability and a long-standing call to repeal PUCHA.
On gasoline prices, Abraham said DOE has seen no evidence oil companies may start charging $3/gal for gasoline, but said the administration would remain "vigilant" regarding alleged price gouging.
Contact Maureen Lorenzetti at [email protected]