Action on federal energy bill likely to be slow process

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

Conference action on the U.S. House and Senate energy bills will be delayed until mid-June at the earliest. The House likely will not name its delegates to the joint conference committee on the bill until after the Memorial Day recess, a Senate Energy Committee spokesman told PNA May 15.

Hashing out an acceptable combined bill is likely to be slow, he said: “We’re just beginning a long road. The bill was born of a broken process but we’ll fix it as well as possible.” The spokesman said the conference committee would have to wade through more than 900 pages of complex issues, including whether the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will be opened to oil exploration.

Sen. Frank Murkowski said in a statement May 3 he was “more than pleased” with the final Senate appointments to the conference committee.

“I think we are in the best possible position we could be in,” Murkowski said. “What I want to tell Alaskans is that the issue of Arctic oil development is very much alive and we are proceeding reenergized and looking forward to a spirited conference.”