By OGJ editors
WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 13 -- US Senate leaders late Thursday pledged to take a leaner energy bill to the Senate floor when Congress returns from a 1 week break Feb. 23.
US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) formally introduced his new energy bill, S. 2095, following an agreement reached between Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD).
A Domenici spokesperson said the two leaders promised the bill would be considered "swiftly, in a constrained fashion, and with as few amendments as possible."
Domenici earlier in the week released a less-expensive version of legislation that had passed the House in November but later failed to clear the Senate (OGJ Online, Feb. 10, 2004). The new bill includes the more modest tax package passed by the Senate Finance Committee last April. S.2095 also does not include product liability protection for any clean-fuel additives.
But Senate passage of the new bill does not mean the legislation is destined to become law. House Republican leaders have indicated that they are amenable to cutting back energy tax breaks; the November bill carried a price tag of $31 billion over 10 years.
Bill obstacles
Still there are formidable, although not impossible, obstacles before consensus can occur, congressional sources said. Most House Republicans oppose any legislation that does not include the liability "safe harbor" provision for methyl tertiary butyl ether. But MTBE liability protections helped derail Senate passage last year.
Additionally, the federal government's role in a proposed $20 billion Alaska North Slope gas pipeline to the Lower 48 may be a sticking point. An earlier House bill did not offer any incentives, although lawmakers mandated a "southern" construction route favored by the state of Alaska and the Senate.
The House later did accept a provision from the Senate that provided a loan guarantee for as much as $18 billion of the cost of an Alaska export pipeline; it is up to the US Sec. of the Department of the Interior whether the loan guarantee ever gets issued. It also is the secretary's decision whether to include the Canadian portion of the line in the loan guarantee.
The pipeline, if built, would be the US's largest construction project ever and has the full support of organized labor. The November version of the bill, however, did not include a commodity price risk provision sought and won by the Alaska delegation last spring.
The latest Senate version now is estimated to cost less than $14 billion, taking into account the $1.2 billion savings in the authorizing portion of the package. It still includes a proposal to more than double fuel ethanol use in gasoline, a provision Daschle has championed from the beginning. Congressional and industry sources said that even if this latest version of the bill fails, the ethanol title has enough bipartisan support to pass as part of other legislation.
Bill benefits
Domenici said his new plan will create new jobs and help farmers.
"We shaved off half the cost and still pump more than 800,000 new jobs into our economy. The ethanol provision alone will do more to bring new life to rural America than anything that has passed through Congress in the last two decades," he said.
But Domenici's Democratic counterpart on the committee, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), argued the bill was still more expensive than what the White House wants and was crafted behind closed doors. He also warned that the bill still might not pass the Senate in its current form, even with Daschle's support.
"It's hard to see how this is a logical step toward enacting energy legislation this year," said Bingaman in a statement Thursday. "The House Republican leadership reportedly will not accept a new comprehensive energy bill from the Senate. The bill costs more than the administration says it will support.
"As was the case in conference last year, the legislation was written unilaterally, with no consultation with Democrats. It contains numerous provisions that probably will not enjoy majority support in the Senate. Once again, Democrats will be placed in the position of having to offer numerous amendments in order to bring bipartisan balance to the bill," Bingaman said.