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Tough Odds on Senate Energy Debate
The odds makers are watching Senate
energy action carefully for clues to whether they should bet on Majority Leader Tom Daschle’s
(D-SD) commitment to bring comprehensive energy legislation to the floor for debate in February. He didn’t make his goal of passing a bill by President’s Day
and debate is now scheduled for February 25. Some speculate that the Senate will be too distracted by the Enron scandal to reach agreement on air pollution controls, fuel efficiency standards and energy tax incentives.
The Daschle/Bingaman
energy bill (S. 1766
) has something for everyone — from energy production to energy conservation. The bill requires 10 percent of electricity supply to come from renewable energy by 2020. At the same time it provides incentives to build a new natural gas pipeline from Alaska
. Oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
, part of the Republican energy package passed in the House
, is not included in the Senate bill. Drilling in the Arctic will be one of the central clash points between the political parties. Another contentious issue will be fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks.
The bill encourages distributed generation through net metering and adopts the Clinton Administration
rule increasing air conditioning and heat pump efficiency by 30 percent. The Bush Administration
rolled back the standard to 12 percent. The bill also sets an energy efficiency standard for federal buildings.
S. 1766 has an extensive section on climate change. It establishes a new White House Office on Climate Change Response
and a national greenhouse gas database. The climate change title also encourages export of clean energy technologies and funds research and development of technologies to reduce greenhouse gases.
The bill also would provide incentives to build new electricity transmission lines, promote clean coal technology, and streamline dam re-licensing at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC
).
— Nancy Hirsh