By the OGJ Online Staff
WASHINGTON, DC, June 21 -- US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) Thursday said he wants to expedite a broad bipartisan energy bill that could be passed by Congress this summer.
Senate Democrats say his remarks were designed to counter what they say are unfair charges by Republicans that legislative fixes to the nation's long-term energy problems are on the back burner, given the decline in gasoline prices (OGJ Online, June 20, 2001).
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) Wednesday said that while energy issues would be "high on the list" of proposed legislation, the Senate should recognize that stalled spending bills are also a top priority.
However in comments made immediately prior to a hearing on reformulated gasoline, Bingaman suggested that passing an energy bill and passing spending legislation are not mutually exclusive.
Bingaman noted Congress and the White House appear to be reaching consensus on two key short-term issues that dominated Capitol Hill's spring agenda: wholesale electricity price caps in the West and grants to help low-income families pay for heating and cooling needs.
He told committee members he wants to move aggressively in passing a longer reaching bill that includes areas of mutual interest to Democrats and Republicans in the closely divided Congress.
According to a June 20 committee staff document, there are 30 specific areas of agreement that could be quickly incorporated into a bill. Those areas do not include energy tax incentives, since they are under the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.
The Bush administration referred to many of those areas of agreement in its own energy policy blueprint released last month. That document calls for interagency cooperation on issues such as interstate gas pipeline projects, goals for use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and the review of existing rules that might stifle emerging energy technologies.
The energy committee is unlikely to consider controversial items such as leasing part of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or restructuring electricity markets.
Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alas.), the ranking Republican on the panel, said Bingaman's comments were a step in the right direction but argued that one large comprehensive bill should be considered immediately even if parts of it are controversial.
RFG issue
One controversial item Bingaman does appear ready to address, although it may not be part of a larger energy bill, is how to streamline reformulated gasoline rules.
At a hearing on the issue Thursday, Bingaman said he has "serious concerns that without action soon to both limit demand growth and to increase flexibility in the system, we are going to see ever higher and more volatile gasoline prices."
Refiners have complained in past hearings that dozens of clean fuel grades required by the Clean Air Act to address regional clean air concerns have exacerbated fuel supply constraints.
Bingaman introduced a comprehensive energy bill this spring that proposed streamlining the number of fuel specifications. The White House plan also has urged more flexibility for the fuels markets.
Complicating the issue is the US Environmental Protection Agency's recent decision to deny California's request to waive the RFG oxygenate standard. The state in 2003 is banning methyl tertiary butyl ether, one of only two cost-effective oxygenates. State regulators say MTBE can pollute groundwater drinking supplies.
An EPA witness initially told the energy committee in her testimony that EPA could not recommend ways legislators could retool the RFG program until September. But she amended her statement to say a draft would go to Capitol Hill on an "accelerated schedule."
A Department of Energy witness said his agency never considered if there would be enough fuel ethanol to meet the oxygenate standard. "It's something we did not study specifically," said Robert Card, DOE under secretary. "But we did not want to presuppose it could not be done."
Ethanol supporters say their industry is ready to meet the additional demand generated by California. But state officials said that even a short ethanol supply disruption might mean gasoline spikes of 50¢/gal over a month-long period.
A witness testifying for the Oxygenated Fuels Association, an MTBE advocacy group, said shipping ethanol from midwestern production centers to the West Coast could be difficult, since it cannot be moved via pipeline, rail traffic is often constrained, and severe winter weather could cause supply shortages.
