A House-Senate conference committee faces the prodigious task of merging the huge energy bills in September.
Their chore is complicated by the fact that 33 senators and 108 House members have been named to the committee.
Each house appointed several members from committees with jurisdiction over parts of the bill. So due to the bills' wide scope, nine Senate and 10 House panels will be represented, making the process more cumbersome than usual.
MORE PROBLEMS
Time will be another problem. Congress has only 1 month in which to pass the bill before it adjourns early in October. So the work must be expedited.
Also, energy legislation is not the only major issue demanding action in the waning days of this congressional session. Two dozen other major bills or appropriations measures are pending.
Fortunately, the House and Senate energy bills are largely similar, and there should be few sticking points.
One problem may be a House provision that would bar states from prorating natural gas production for the purpose of restricting supply or raising prices.
Sen. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), energy committee chairman and leader of the Senate conferees, has sworn to delete that from the final bill because it would infringe on states' rights to manage reservoirs and protect correlative rights. The House bill's bans on offshore leasing, more extensive than in the Senate bill, are mergeable and no longer are expected to prompt a presidential veto of the entire bill.
The presidential election campaign is a less quantifiable threat to the energy bill.
When President Bush accepted the Republican party nomination, he took the risky expedient of criticizing Congress on energy legislation.
He observed his administration proposed its energy program Feb. 20, 1991, at the height of the Persian Gulf war.
"And how many days did it take to win the gulf war?" he asked. "Forty-three. And how many days did it take Congress to pass a national energy strategy? Five hundred thirty-two and still counting. I have ridden stationary bikes that can move faster than the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate."
WHAT'S POSSIBLE
If Bush wants the achievement of enacting energy legislation in his administration, he would be wise not to taunt Democrat congressional leaders who have the power to kill the bill any time.
Also, they would shelve the bill whenever Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, the Democrat candidate, decides to issue a few public words against it.
If the energy bill dies and Bush is reelected, Congress will have to start from scratch next session, refighting many of the same battles.
If it dies and Clinton is elected, he would be unlikely to support the package fashioned by the Bush administration. However, selected parts of the bill could be passed individually.
Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
