Congressional leaders move forward on energy reform bill

By the OGJ editors

WASHINGTON, DC, June 20 -- House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) June 19 said he will manage negotiations between House and Senate lawmakers seeking to reconcile differences on pending energy reform legislation.

Progress on the bill stalled for several weeks as Senate and House leaders struggled with whether the House or Senate would lead the talks. Lawmakers finally decided that Tauzin will chair the conference on this energy bill. Then Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) gets to chair the next energy-related conference with the Committee on Resources, as well as energy legislation shared with the House energy and commerce committee.

"Chairman Tauzin and I have arrived at a common vision for a conference that will focus on getting a good energy bill that can pass both the Senate and the House," said Bingaman. "We will be working closely to ensure conference meetings are effective and productive."

Road ahead
A June 27 organizational meeting is scheduled, but most of the heavy-duty negotiations are not expected to start until after the week-long July 4 recess. Congress then takes a month-long break in August before leaving town to prepare for the November elections sometime in October.

With only 10 legislative weeks remaining, there is wide skepticism from policy-makers and interested stakeholders, including oil company executives, on whether Congress can reach a consensus on the two versions before adjournment.

Nevertheless, key lawmakers say they think a deal can be struck between the 500 page House bill (HR 4) and the 900 page Senate bill (S 517).

Tauzin said there are 55 provisions that are similar, 50 proposals that differ, and several Senate items in which there is no comparable House provisions.

The Senate bill contains pipeline safety legislation, tax incentives and loan guarantees for a new Alaska gas pipeline, and an ethanol fuel mandate not present in the House bill. The House bill meanwhile contains a provision that allows leasing in the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Both bills have large energy tax credit provisions, although the $33 billion House version is about twice the size of the Senate's.

The White House's Council on Economic Advisors has serious reservations over the Alaska gas pipeline provisions and the ethanol mandate; however, President George W. Bush has publicly supported expanding the use of fuel ethanol as a replacement to the fuel oxygenate methyl tertiary butyl ether. The White House's Office of Management and Budget also has indicated it thinks most of the energy tax provisions in both bills, including items designed to encourage domestic oil production, are not cost-effective. But whether that opposition translates later into a veto of final legislation is still unclear, say congressional staff and lobbyists who are following the bill closely.

Energy bill future
Preserving some semblance of an energy bill may be a useful platform for the fall elections, depending on what the final measure looks like; the ethanol portion alone is designed to breed bonhomie in the Midwest, a key constituency. The energy tax incentives also may bolster the reelection chances of some lawmakers.

However, some congressmen say the tax incentives will give money to oil companies and take money away from much-needed social programs. House Democratic lawmakers from the West and East coasts and consumer, environmental, and public interest groups are focusing their opposition on the more generous House bill.

"The House energy bill is yet another tax cut for the rich that does little to nothing to secure America's long-term energy needs," said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). "While President Bush and House Republican leaders are giving tens of billions in tax cuts to energy companies, they are cutting federal support to elementary schools and secondary schools by $90 million from last year. Their energy bill and their priorities are wrong for America."