• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Energy Bill Passes

Posted on: Monday, 1 August 2005, 12:01 CDT

Jul. 30--Congress approved a comprehensive energy bill Friday, but Oklahoma's oil and gas producers gave the measure a thumbs down, saying it won't curb soaring energy prices or bolster supplies.

"I don't see anything in the bill for oil and gas companies," said Harold Hamm, chairman of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association.

The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate in a 74-26 vote Friday. The House approved the bill earlier this week by a vote of 275 to 156.

The measure provides $14.5 billion in tax breaks, including $2.6 billion for the oil and gas industry. It also provides tax breaks and incentives for the construction of nuclear plants, cleaner burning coal plants, wind power development and upgrades in electric transmission.

But Hamm said the bill does little to address the nation's most serious energy problem -- the declining supply of oil and natural gas.

"That was what we were fearful of, that they were going to come out with a so-called energy bill that doesn't address the problem," he said. "It looks to me that's what we have."

The bill does not promote the development of unconventional resources such as coalbed methane and oil and gas shales, Hamm said. It also offers no incentive for secondary and tertiary production.

"We lobbied hard for a lot of those things," he said. "Basically, they turned a deaf ear to us."

The bill fails to emphasize exploration, said Kent Harrell of Harrell Energy Co. in Tulsa.

"You have to have a much more pro-exploration bill to have an impact on supply," he said. "There's nothing in the bill that can change the supply picture domestically."

But the bill does contain a few provisions that will help limit the costs of domestic producers, Harrell said. For example, it exempts certain oil and gas operations from costly storm-water control regulation.

"That's something we've been trying to get the EPA to do for some time," Harrell said.

It also allows producers to write off geological and seismic costs.

"Anything you can do to lower costs helps the domestic industry," he said.

The bill also increases the use of biofuels and ethanol, a potential boon for Oklahoma and other agricultural states.

Republicans wanted to allow drilling and exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but that proposal never made it to the final draft.

"If we put it in we wouldn't be here" celebrating passage of the bill, said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Opponents to drilling in ANWR had vowed to filibuster legislation that included the provision.

The bill also excludes what analysts have described as the best way to reduce oil imports and lower pump prices -- higher mileage standards for cars and light trucks.

"This bill is literally a series of missed opportunities," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Still, the bill passed with broad bipartisan support, a major victory for President Bush even though it cost twice as much as he wanted.

"I look forward to signing it into law," Bush said in a statement. He said the legislation is "critically important to our long-term national and economic security."

Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe, both R-Okla., voted for the bill.

The bill's approval comes four years after Bush called for an overhaul of the nation's energy needs.

Congress was stymied repeatedly by conflicts and environmental disputes.

The bill represents the first broad overhaul of energy policies in 13 years.

Domenici acknowledged that it will not lower gasoline prices or even affect oil imports in the short term. He maintained that the bill's myriad measures -- from tax breaks and loan guarantees to new appliance efficiency requirements -- will benefit the nation "not tomorrow but for the next five or 10 years."

For the first time it would require utilities to comply with federal reliability standards for the electricity grid, instead of self-regulation. The goal was to reduce the likelihood of repeating of a blackout such as the one that struck the Midwest and Northeast in the summer of 2003.

For consumers, the bill would provide tax credits for buying gas-electric "hybrid" cars, make energy improvements in new and existing homes, and beginning in 2007 extend daylight-saving time by one month to save energy.

The bill's price tag is twice what the White House originally put forward and raised caution among some senators.

"This bill digs us deeper into a budget black hole. ... The costs of this are staggering," said Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who tried to block the legislation on grounds that it violated the Senate's own budget rules. The effort failed 71-29.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

-----

To see more of the Tulsa World, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tulsaworld.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, Tulsa World, Okla.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Tulsa World

More News in this Category