Proposals to open Alaska’s arctic coastal plain to oil and gas drilling and to place a two-year sunset on federal loan guarantees for the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline are part of new energy packages adopted Sept. 28 by U.S. House committees on Resources and Energy and Commerce.
Congress is revisiting various energy proposals in response to the havoc wreaked by recent hurricanes on the nation’s energy supplies. With crude oil prices expected to rise 34 percent this winter and natural gas costs expected to jump 71 percent, the lawmakers seek to increase domestic energy supplies and prevent supply disruptions like those seen after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in August and September.
The House Resources Committee approved “The National Energy Supply Diversification and Disruption Prevention Act” on a 27-16 vote.
The draft version of the bill included a provision to explore the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas.
“Part of the reason we’re here today is there are signs of stirring in the other body as if they are finally realizing their position opposing these measures is ridiculous,” said Resources Chairman Richard W. Pombo, R-Calif.
Pombo cited passage of a budget bill that included ANWR drilling on a 51-50 vote last spring as evidence that the proposal has gained favor in the Senate.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., offered an amendment to strike drilling on the arctic coastal plain. Markey said ANWR likely contains 2.5 percent of the world’s oil supplies, but he opposed drilling there because it does nothing to really solve the nation’s energy problems.
“Drilling in the Arctic refuge would result in oil being transported to California to be put into largely inefficient vehicles,” without anything being done to make those vehicles more efficient, he said. The amendment failed 14 to 28.
Two-year limit on loan guarantees proposed
The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the “Gasoline for America’s Security Act of 2005,” a bill designed to fix the price spikes and dry gas pumps that drivers encountered nationwide after the hurricanes shut down many Gulf Coast oil refineries.
“It is unfortunate that it takes a hurricane to show us just how acute that problem is,” said the panel’s chairman, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas.
The measure, which passed on a voice vote, encourages expeditious construction of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline by placing a two-year sunset on loan guarantees that Congress authorized for use in building the $20 billion pipeline last fall.
Barton said the nation needs the abundant natural gas supplies that the 4.5-billion-cubic-feet-a-day Alaska pipeline would carry to the Lower 48. The clock would start ticking when Barton’s bill becomes law.
The Energy and Commerce bill also directs the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into price gouging, cuts the number of “boutique” fuels currently required for different parts of the country from 19 to six, and encourages carpooling to conserve gasoline.
Also royalty reductions for federal deep gas onshore
The Resources committee approved an amendment offered by Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., that provides royalty reductions for onshore deep gas wells on federal land. The Secretary of Energy will have the discretion to determine the standards for the eligibility of wells and to place limits upon the royalty incentives based upon market conditions.
Pearce said the amendment is aimed at helping small independents engage in more costly deep gas plays.
The Resources legislation also includes language to allow states to opt out of a federal ban on offshore oil and natural gas drilling, a proposal that faces strong Senate opposition. The bill would expedite the development of renewable energy projects on federal lands, an idea dropped during energy conference talks this year because of Senate concern.
Environmentalists and Democrats oppose most of the proposals. They are supporting alternative legislation, including a bill by Science Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., and Markey, D-Mass., that would boost the average fuel efficiency standard from 25 miles per gallon to 33 miles per gallon by 2016.
The full House is expected to vote on energy legislation in October.
