U.S Energy and Mining Exploration Regulation Plans
December 8th, 2007
Democratic leaders in the Senate are planning a vote on a retooled energy bill next week after they failed to muster enough support Friday to prevent a filibuster of legislation passed by the House on Thursday.
A new version of the bill will probably scale back some elements of the House’s tax package and jettison a requirement that electric utilities use renewable energy for 15 percent of their power output. A White House veto threat citing a range of objections continued to cast uncertainty over the proposal’s fate.
The Senate voted 53-42 Friday to close debate, falling short of the 60 needed to permit a vote on passage, though four Democratic presidential candidates rushed in from the campaign trail to bolster the its chances. All but three of the senators who blocked a vote were Republicans; five Republicans joined Democrats in favor of closing debate.
The failure was a victory for the major oil companies, Southeastern utilities and coal-mining firms that had opposed the legislation. But amid growing public concern about climate change and with oil prices hovering around $90 a barrel, there was still widespread support among lawmakers for an ambitious energy bill with higher auto fuel-efficiency standards.
“We have to figure out how to pass a bill in the Senate that will accomplish the same general objectives the House is trying to accomplish,” said Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.
On Thursday, the House had brushed aside a veto threat and approved an energy bill that would raise mileage standards for the first time in 32 years, set a quota of 36 billion gallons a year for the use of ethanol and other biofuels and require increased use of renewable energy to generate electricity. The bill would also raise $21 billion in revenue over 10 years, largely by ending tax breaks for the biggest oil companies while extending tax incentives for wind and other renewable sources.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Calif., said she was disappointed but hoped that the two chambers could still agree on a “strong energy bill and send it to the president’s desk for his signature.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., conceded that the final deal would have to drop the energy quotas, but he said a stripped-down version of the House legislation “is still a good bill.”
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