Republican will head US energy bill negotiations
Date: 20-Jun-02
Country: USA
Author: Tom Doggett
As head of the conference committee, Tauzin will set the agenda for about 60 negotiators trying to reconcile the sharply different House and Senate versions of energy legislation.
A new U.S. energy policy to promote domestic production and conservation took on more urgency after the Sept. 11 attacks. The Bush administration has called energy a national security issue because the nation imports more than half of its oil needs, much from the volatile Middle East.
"We don't get to make energy policy often here (in Congress). We don't want to miss this chance," Tauzin told reporters.
The Louisiana lawmaker said he expects drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to be one of the more controversial issues for members of the conference committee.
The Republican-led House passed an energy bill that would give oil companies access to the vast Alaskan refuge, a 19 million acre (7.7 million hectares) area that is home to caribou, polar bears and other wildlife.
The Democratic-controlled Senate adopted energy legislation that would keep the area closed to drilling.
President George W. Bush, a former Texas oilman, contends the refuge's potential 16 billion barrels of oil would reduce oil imports from unfriendly countries like Iraq. Iraq is the sixth biggest foreign crude supplier to the U.S. market.
NEGOTIATORS TO MEET NEXT WEEK
Tauzin was named chairman of the conference committee after reaching an agreement with Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat.
Bingaman, who heads the Senate Energy Committee, had also wanted to chair the conference committee. Tauzin successfully argued that the Senate headed the the last joint panel that worked out major energy legislation a decade ago.
Tauzin is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Bingaman said Tauzin had his full support in keeping the conference committee on track "to address the many thorny substantive problems that is must work through."
Committee negotiators will begin working almost immediately, meeting for the first time next week.
Tauzin and Bingaman said they do not expect the committee to complete its work before Congress leaves for its August recess. But a final energy bill can be agreed upon and sent to Bush for his signature before Congress' scheduled October adjournment, they said.
"We have a lot of work to do (but) I think there is a good a prospect that we can reach an agreement," Bingaman said.
The energy bill passed by the Senate was about 1,000 pages long, while the House's energy bill came in at about 600 pages.
FAR APART ON ETHANOL, TAX BREAKS
Still, Tauzin said there are about 50 areas on energy policy where both the Senate and House bills agree. They include providing more federal money to help low-income families pay their energy costs, stronger energy efficiency for appliances and energy research projects.
However, he said there were also major disagreements in each chamber's approach to energy policy.
In addition to differences on drilling in the Arctic refuge, Tauzin said other contentious issues will be over boosting vehicle fuel efficiency standards and whether to require more use of ethanol-blended gasoline.
The Senate's plan to triple the use of corn-based ethanol that is blended into gasoline is widely supported by farm state lawmakers and Bush. However, a recent internal White House memo indicated some administration opposition because the ethanol mandate would increase gasoline costs and might create supply shortages in some regions.
Another key area of difference facing the House and Senate negotiators is how much tax incentives and credits are needed to encourage more production and conservation.
The House version would hand out $33 billion in tax breaks, mostly for oil, natural gas and coal producers. The Senate bill would spend about $14 billion, divided among fossil fuels, renewable energy and conservation.