The Teamsters don’t like it because Arctic oil drilling is left out, the United Auto Workers don’t like it because tougher fuel-economy standards are included, and Republicans don’t like it, period.
But the $15 billion energy bill the Democratic-controlled Senate is about to take up has strong support from environmentalists and others who like its slant toward energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, said he is unsure of the final outcome for a bill that is markedly different from the $30 billion House measure that emphasizes drilling and production over conservation.
Another factor will influence the vote: Enron Corp.’s collapse. According to Alden Meyer, director of government relations for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a number of amendments related to the energy trading company’s bankruptcy can be expected. Some senators have raised questions about whether any energy bill should be passed in the current climate, he said.
“There will undoubtedly be arguments made that the Enron collapse gives reason to oppose parts of this bill,” Bingaman said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is pushing an amendment that would bring trading in energy derivatives, the futures contracts that many experts believe got Enron into trouble, under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Enron’s lobbying during the Clinton administration resulted in passage of a provision exempting it from commission regulation.
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Impasse on Arctic drilling
The fate of the energy bill could come down to an amendment allowing drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Democrats sharply oppose this provision, even though the Teamsters union supports it. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said his party will not compromise on the issue.
Bingaman said he is uncertain whether proponents of Arctic drilling have the 60 votes needed to push an amendment through over Democratic opposition. President Bush has made drilling in the Alaska refuge a central requirement of his support. One of his economic advisers, Larry Lindsey, said last week that Bush would not sign an energy bill without such authority.
If the Republicans lose on drilling in the refuge, Meyer said the key question is whether they will try to “pull down the rest of the bill in pique and take their marbles and go home.”
The White House, the business community and the Teamsters formed a powerful lobbying juggernaut in the House that resulted in passage of a bill that included authority to drill in the refuge for the first time. The GOP says there are enough supporters in the Senate to allow exploration in the refuge if it is permitted to come to a vote. But passage in the Senate could trigger a filibuster against the rest of the bill by some Democrats.
Daschle and other Democrats said a White House compromise to limit drilling to only 500,000 acres in the refuge’s 1.5 million acres was unacceptable.
If this were not enough of a spat, the controversy over fuel economy standards for cars and trucks adds an extra measure of divisiveness. Many Republicans lawmakers, automobile manufacturers and the United Auto Workers are lined up against strengthening these standards.
But Democrats are pushing the efficiency standards strongly. “Our bill is much more focused on the future, how we meet new energy challenges with new technology and energy efficiency,” Bingaman said.
Tighter auto rules
Under the bill, automakers would have to produce cars and light trucks, including sport-utility vehicles, that meet a fleetwide average fuel efficiency of 35 miles per gallon by 2013. Currently, the fuel economy standards of cars and trucks are calculated separately, with cars required to meet a fleetwide standard of 27.5 m.p.g. and light trucks 20.7 m.p.g.
The measure would require that, by 2010, carmakers produce autos that get an average 32.2 m.p.g. and light trucks that get 26.3 m.p.g.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has said he will sponsor an amendment similar to one proposed in the House that would set fuel efficiency standards for cars and SUVs with the goal of saving 5 billion gallons of fuel by 2010.
According to environmental groups, this amendment weakens existing fuel economy standards. One group, Environmental Defense, said the efficiency provision in the Senate bill would save 20 billion gallons per year by 2015.
The Senate bill contains another controversial measure that would repeal the public utility holding company act under which the Securities and Exchange Commission is responsible for regulating mergers and acquisitions in the electrical utility business.
Bingaman said the SEC has “failed to enforce that statute for decades. The consensus of people I talk to in the industry is that it should be repealed. The responsibility for guarding against mergers and acquisitions that are unwise and unwarranted should be lodged in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.”
But in light of the Enron scandal, this provision, too, may run into roadblocks, Meyer said.
Clean air standards also may become a major issue. Sen. James Jeffords, the Vermont independent, is considering an amendment that would require the government to include carbon dioxide in the list of so-called greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.