WATCHING WASHINGTON NES OUTLOOK

with Patrick Crow Now that the hoopla around the release of the National Energy Strategy has faded, it is apparent NES legislation will not be easy to pass at all. The NES got a sour reception when it was explained to the House energy subcommittee. Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), energy committee chairman, warned Energy Sec. James Watkins that Congress will change the NES extensively. Dingell said, "I don't think you should be under illusions that this process is going to be easy or quick."

March 11, 1991

3 min read

Now that the hoopla around the release of the National Energy Strategy has faded, it is apparent NES legislation will not be easy to pass at all.

The NES got a sour reception when it was explained to the House energy subcommittee. Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), energy committee chairman, warned Energy Sec. James Watkins that Congress will change the NES extensively. Dingell said, "I don't think you should be under illusions that this process is going to be easy or quick."

Committee members questioned the lack of energy taxes in the NES because the low price of imported oil will continue to undermine attempts to promote conservation or alternative fuels.

Watkins said he discussed energy taxes with President Bush, who rejected them as "a regressive approach."

JOHNSTON-WALLOP BILL

The most aggressive NES bill in Congress was authored by Sens. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), energy committee chairman, and Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.), the panel's ranking Republican.

It would require importers to hand over 9% of the crude or products they bring into the country to either the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or Defense Department.

Last week, Wallop told the Chemical Manufacturers Association, "It won't work, and I think we both know it."

He said courts probably would rule it an illegal seizure, and it would hurt energy trade partners like Canada. Wallop explained, "We were trying to reflect that we need some level of stability in the price of oil."

Also destined for the dustbin is the administration's last minute idea to merge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission into the Department of Energy. That was the brainchild of Vice Pres. Dan Quayle's Council on Competitiveness. It said the five member FERC commission should be eliminated, and a DOE administrator should oversee the agency.

The council said, "FERC's status as an independent agency has historically made it difficult for the president to coordinate broad federal energy policy." But that's an exaggeration. The president appoints all five members of the commission and has never had difficulty bending its policies in the general direction he wants.

Another egregious energy statement came from Rep. Leon Panetta (D-Calif.), who is promoting his version of NES. "The incentive and the temptation for Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait would have been lower if this nation had a responsible energy policy that kept America's energy supply secure and the world oil market more stable," Panetta said. That raised eyebrows because Panetta is a relentless opponent of a very secure source of U.S. energy-offshore production-helping engineer moratoriums blocking offshore lease sales year after year.

RETREADED ROADMAP

The NES process began after Watkins decided the current energy policy lacked a roadmap for achieving its lofty goals. Unfortunately, the roadmap in Watkins' NES apparently ended up in a White House wastebasket.

William Martin, a former deputy energy secretary, has observed the resulting NES is remarkably similar to the Reagan administration's key energy statement that, among other things, called for more offshore drilling and leasing of the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (OGJ, Mar. 23, 1987, p. 22).

"They could have saved themselves 18 months of work and a lot of money just by reprinting our plan," Martin said.