US Senate balks on Democrat energy bill

07 December 2007 21:50  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--The US Senate put off on Friday a vote on a new Democrat-sponsored energy bill, with Republican leaders charging that the measure would dramatically increase energy prices for business and consumers.

 

In a procedural vote, 53 senators voted to end debate on HR-6, the House-passed “Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.” The tally was well short of the 60 votes needed to halt debate and move to a vote on the bill’s merits.

 

The bill is opposed by most Senate Republicans and a few Democrats, and it is not likely to get a vote on the merits in its current form.

 

Among other things, the bill would impose some $21bn (€14.3bn) in taxes or tax credit rollbacks on US producers of oil and natural gas, using those revenues to fund research on solar, geothermal and ocean-current power generation.

 

The legislation also would raise fuel efficiency standards for US-made autos and require electric utilities to use renewable sources such as solar and wind to produce 15% of their output.

 

In addition, the bill would set a goal of 36bn gal/year of US biofuel production and use in transportation by 2022, a major increase from the current renewable fuel standard (RFS) of 7.5bn gal/year by 2012.

 

Senator Pete Domenici (Republican-New Mexico), ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, complained that the legislation was “a partisan bill that would dramatically increase energy prices for consumers.”

 

Domenici and other Republicans object to the taxes on US oil and gas producers and the imposition of a renewable fuel mandate on the country’s electric utilities, arguing that both provisions would raise energy costs without producing any more energy.

 

Senator Bob Menendez (Democrat-New Jersey), a member of the Senate Energy Committee, charged that “the Republican Party would rather protect oil companies than serve the American people.”

 

Senator Harry Reid (Democrat-Nevada), the majority leader, was not immediately available on Friday to say what he plans to do with the stalled HR-6.

 

When a bill fails to gain the support of at least 60 senators, its backers often will pull the measure from the Senate floor to rework the language in hopes of overcoming opposition objections and garnering enough votes to end debate in favour of a simple majority vote on the matter.

 

($1.00 = €0.68)

By: Joe Kamalick
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