Future of energy bill uncertain

Steve Sutherlin PNA managing editor

The future of a U.S. House-Senate energy bill is uncertain as conferees wrestle over contentious energy issues and Congress is consumed with concerns about possible military action against Iraq.

House conferees were still waiting Oct. 9 for their Senate counterparts to formally return an answer to an Oct. 2 House offer that would allow drilling in the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in exchange for increasing the wilderness area in the refuge by 10.2 million acres. A House-Senate conference on the bill scheduled for Oct. 8 was not canceled.

Although the full conference committee didn’t meet, private negotiations on contentious issues were ongoing, keeping faint hope alive that an energy bill will pass before Congress adjourns for November elections, a spokesman for Sen. Frank Murkowski told PNA Oct. 9.

ANWR isn’t the only issue clogging the works, the spokesman said. The committee is trying to forge agreements on electricity regulations, ethanol requirements, climate change measures and incentives for a North Slope natural gas line.

“Everyone is still hanging in there and talking,” the spokesman said.

There is a chance the conference committee will put a bill together for consideration by the full House and Senate, but congressional focus will likely continue to be on Iraq and on military spending issues currently under consideration, Roger Herrera, Washington, D.C. coordinator for pro-drilling group Arctic Power, told PNA Oct. 9.

“Pulling rabbits out of hats at this point is unlikely,” he said.

If the leadership extends the session into the week of Oct. 14, Herrera said, attendance is expected to be light because of members returning to their home districts to focus on reelection campaigns.

Last chance in November

Prospects for passage of an energy bill in a lame duck session will hinge on the outcome of the elections and on how much time is left after tackling more pressing issues, Herrera said.

“There is a time element that nobody can ignore, and that time is running,” Herrera said, adding that if no energy bill passes this fall, it is virtually certain that a new Congress will resurrect the issue next year.