The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) said only about 13 percent of the $62 billion price tag of the energy bill passed by the House in August goes to programs that benefit consumers.

PIRG urged the Senate to ignore the House version and instead include enviro-friendly measures like stricter fuel efficiency standards for sport utility vehicles and incentives for wind and solar power.

The House bill is "dirty, dangerous and does not deliver for consumers," said Anna Aurilio, PIRG's legislative director.

Senate energy legislation has been in limbo for months over the Alaska drilling provision. So far, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has refused to allow a vote on the issue until Republicans gather the 60 votes needed to end a threatened filibuster of the bill by Democrats opposed to opening the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

Republicans say they already have a majority in favor of the bill and the legislation would pass if a simple up-or-down vote was allowed on the measure.

ENERGY BILL MAY BE PART OF STIMULUS PACKAGE

Alaska Republican Sen. Frank Murkowski yesterday threatened to attach the House energy bill to a $67-billion economic stimulus package under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee.

"I'm putting this body on notice that if we don't get an answer from the Democratic leader (Daschle) ... we'll put this on the stimulus bill," Murkowski said in a floor speech.

That effort was likely to be blocked by the committee's Democrats and Vermont Independent Jim Jeffords, congressional sources said.

Daschle, the gatekeeper for any Senate action on energy, on Tuesday dangled out the possibility of taking the issue up between the Thanksgiving and Christmas congressional breaks.

No action would come before "must-pass" legislation on airport security, bioterrorism, appropriations, economic stimulus and agriculture, Daschle said.

The politically controversial Alaska drilling provision got a plug from Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in an editorial published in Thursday's Wall Street Journal.

"The House knows - and the Senate would agree if allowed to vote on it - that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would reinforce energy security by increasing domestic oil production," Abraham wrote.

In the House bill, the lion's share of subsidies, or about 61 percent, goes to oil, natural gas, coal, electric utility and nuclear power industries, PIRG said in its report.

The PIRG report showed said the House version of an energy bill included the following industry subsidies:

- $21 billion for oil and gas subsidies, including $7.4 billion in lost revenue from royalty relief awards for offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

By means of comparison, the President's tax rebate program returned about $38.9 billion to taxpayers, Aurelio said.

- $5.8 billion for coal and electric utilities' subsidies and tax credits to develop technology for cleaner-burning coal plants.

- $2.7 billion for nuclear plant owners to support uranium mining, nuclear energy research and tax exemptions for nuclear plant decommissioning costs.