WATCHING WASHINGTON REVIVING THE ENERGY BILL

Sen. Bennett Johnston (D-La.) says drilling on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain may be a dead issue, but the omnibus energy bill isn't.

Johnston, in his first public comments since the bill was defeated (OGJ, Nov. 11, p. 17), said he has begun work on revised legislation.

He said the ANWR and Corporate Auto Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) chapters will be deleted. "if you take off ANWR you should take off CAFE. Both are filibuster bait. Both ought to plow their own way (on the Senate floor)."

He is working with other senators who want changes in the nuclear provisions and less reform of the Public Utilities Holding Co. Act, which regulates the electrical power industry.

REVAMP SCHEDULED

In an unusual step, Johnston plans to submit a revamped bill to the Senate Democratic caucus for its approval early next year. Then it would go to the Senate floor.

"I don't want to put 14 titles out there and have the Senate tear it apart," he explained.

He distanced himself from the administration's efforts to bring the entire bill, including ANWR, back to the floor soon for a second cloture vote.

The Bush administration, all the way up to the president, has been lobbying senators in an effort to get the 60 votes needed to shut off a filibuster.

But Johnston said he counts only 57 possible votes, so ANWR is out of energy legislation for this Congress. "I know how to count votes, and I know when we lost, and we lost on ANWR."

Johnston noted ANWR leasing could be resurrected whenever the energy situation warrants. And he predicted, "Twenty years from now there will be some activity on ANWR. I don't think this nation can do without it."

Deputy Energy Sec. Henson Moore, in a talk to the Ark-La-Tex Association of Petroleum Landmen in Shreveport, La., expressed the administration's frustration.

"What happened with the Senate energy bill is a perfect example of why the American people are so disgusted with politicians. Too many senators were caught up in the needs of special interest groups and wanted to avoid a tough vote. As an American citizen and a former member of Congress, I think it is a disgrace that the U.S. Senate would not even consider debating this balanced, comprehensive energy bill."

Next year Congress could easily pass a revised Senate bill and a pending 12 chapter House bill. Both contain a number of positive provisions for consumers and for gas producers.

But election year politics are beginning to erode bipartisan support behind the Senate bill.

WORKING WITH REPUBLICANS

Johnston's resolve to work through the caucus reflects the criticism he took from Democrats for working with the Republican administration to revise energy policy.

Some speculate a few Democrat senators may have voted against the bill not because of ANWR but to keep a Republican initiative from being enacted in an election year.

And the administration's refusal to concede defeat on ANWR is smacking more and more of an all-Republican effort.

If battle lines over the Senate bill continue to shift toward a Republican vs. Democrat standoff, the legislation is in deep trouble.

Typically, such us vs. them bills get shelved in election years.

Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.