Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Energy bill faces tough bargaining

WASHINGTON - The Senate approved an energy bill Tuesday that was more favorable to conservation, wind farms and ethanol and less kind to oil and gas producers than legislation passed by the House.

Whether the differences can be resolved may depend on how much pressure President Bush can bring to bear. The president urged the lawmakers to resolve their differences quickly and send him a bill before August.

"The administration's attitude is we want a bill," Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said. "I think you will see the president quite proactive on this."

Hard bargaining lies ahead, especially with a pesky issue surrounding the gasoline additive MTBE remaining a potential deal breaker - as it was two years ago.

After finishing all but a final vote on the bill last week, the Senate approved the 1,250-page document Tuesday 85-12. Seven Democrats and five Republicans voted against the bill.

Florida's two senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Mel Martinez, were among the 12 who voted against the bill, because it includes a provision to conduct an inventory of gas and oil reserves in all U.S. waters.

Under existing bans on drilling that cover 80 percent of America's coast, including Florida's, even detailed assessments of reserves have been off-limits. Florida's senators and their allies say the inventory is a way to ease into drilling, and they point to studies that suggest the testing itself - which bounces sound off the ocean floor in search of geological formations favorable to pockets of gas and oil - endangers fish and marine mammals.

Proponents say that the environmental impact of the testing is minimal, and that knowing how much energy the nation owns off-shore is good policy.

The version of the energy bill passed by the U.S. House did not include the inventory.

Negotiators from the House and Senate now will meet to try to reconcile differences before sending a new version back to both chambers for final approval. Nelson and Martinez say they hope it won't include the inventory.

"This is a very good bill that unfortunately contains a very bad provision," Martinez said. His vote on the final version "depends on whether the final bill respects Florida's rights, and the rights of other states, to keep the protections that blanket our coastal waters."

Nelson was more critical of the entire bill. "This legislation does nothing to reduce soaring gas prices while avoiding real solutions, such as increasing fuel efficiency for automobiles," he said.

Lawmakers acknowledged the bill, despite its broad sweep, would have little impact on current high gasoline and crude oil prices. Crude oil eclipsed $60 a barrel this week and gasoline averaged $2.22 a gallon nationwide, according to the Energy Department.

Bush said the Senate-passed bill would help U.S. economic growth by addressing the root causes of high energy prices and the nation's growing dependence on foreign supplies. But the bill's critics argued it does little to reduce demand for oil, two-thirds of which goes for transportation, or reduce oil imports, which account for 58 percent of U.S. demand.

More environmentally friendly than the energy bill passed by the House in April, the Senate bill would funnel 40 percent of $18-billion in tax breaks over 10 years to boost renewable energy sources, energy conservation and alternative transportation fuels.

Among other key provisions are:

--Loan guarantees of up to 80 percent for developing new technologies for clean coal and next-generation nuclear power reactors.

--Mandatory reliability standards for electric power grids, ending the current system of industry self-regulation.

--Tax breaks for people who buy gas-electric hybrid cars, more energy-efficient appliances or energy-efficient homes.

In the last four years the Senate has passed energy legislation twice, only to see the effort fall apart without a final agreement with the House.

--Times staff writer Wes Allison contributed to this report.

[Last modified June 29, 2005, 01:20:05]