US Senate leaders to tweak energy bill

07 December 2007 23:27  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--Senate Democrats will re-work a controversial energy bill in hopes of winning enough Republican support for the measure to bring it to a vote by the end of next week, a spokesman said on Friday.

 

The bill, HR-6, the Democrat-sponsored “Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007,” failed to win enough support in the Senate earlier on Friday and was pulled from consideration.

 

In a procedural vote, only 53 senators voted to end debate on the bill and to bring it to a vote on its merits. Senate rules require that at least 60 senators agree to close debate on a measure that has significant minority opposition.

 

Stephen Krupin, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat-Nevada), said Reid would consider some minor changes to the energy bill’s provisions on renewable fuels, electric utility renewable energy sources and taxes on oil and natural gas producers.

 

Those are the three areas that drew the most Republican objections.

 

“We’re hoping we can make enough changes in those areas to be able to bring the bill to the Senate floor again by the end of next week,” Krupin said.

 

The bill’s renewable fuels standard (RFS) would mandate US production and consumption of 36bn gal/year of biofuels, chiefly ethanol, by 2022. 

 

Many Republicans and energy industry officials have complained that technology to enable that much ethanol production from non-food agricultural feedstock is not yet available and that such a high volume of ethanol production would put severe strains on US water and transportation resources.

 

Republicans and electric utilities also challenged the bill’s requirement for power companies to generate 15% of their output from renewable sources such as wind, solar and ocean energy. They argued that many parts of the country lack such resources and the mandate would only serve to drive up electricity costs for consumers and industry.

 

Energy companies and chemical industry official also argued against the bill’s $21bn (€14.3bn) tax package targeting oil and gas producers, saying the measure would inhibit much needed increases in US hydrocarbon production.

 

Krupin said Senator Reid would not accept any change to the bill’s increased automotive fuel efficiency mandate, which will require an average of 35 miles/gal for US-made cars.  The current standard, known as the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE), is 25 miles/gal.

 

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By: Joe Kamalick
+1 713 525 2653

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