Oil cost stokes push for policy

Congress begins work Tuesday on a bill to boost production and conservation

Christian Science Monitor 04/05/05
author: Gail Russell Chaddock
(Copyright 2005)

WASHINGTON - For a generation Americans have commuted, heated their homes, manufactured goods, and expanded foreign trade without any major overhaul of energy policy.

Proponents of oil exploration and conservation never went away, but their urgings were muffled by an era of relatively cheap oil.

Now the momentum is finally shifting.

With crude oil topping $55 a barrel and 55 Republicans in the US Senate - up from 50 before the November elections - major energy legislation now appears much more likely to pass than it did even a year ago.

Monday oil traded briefly above a new high of $58 a barrel. Prospects ranging from terrorist attacks on critical oil facilities in the Middle East to soaring prices at US gas pumps this summer have rattled Wall Street and are giving new urgency to efforts backed by President Bush and key lawmakers.

It remains uncertain how those efforts will play out. But as a House committee begins to mark up its bill Tuesday, a range of options, from drilling in Alaskan wilderness to expanding conservation efforts, are politically possible, thanks in part to new coalitions of business, conservation, and national-security groups.

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This marks the third Congress that has attempted to pass an energy bill in the Bush presidency. Each time, bills cleared the GOP-controlled House but failed in negotiations with the Senate over issues such as drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) or immunity for groundwater polluters.

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At the same time, the possibility that some crisis could push petroleum prices still higher, even to $100 a barrel, is fueling pressure for more serious conservation proposals to curb petroleum use.

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The current House bill and White House policy reflect the conventional wisdom that the US economy remains heavily dependent on oil, and the solution is finding more of it, says Mr. Gaffney. "We're saying: We're heavily dependent on oil. We know where most of it is, and it's ill-advised [for us] to remain heavily dependent on oil.... So let's go get alternative means" of powering the economy.

The House bill would take other significant steps. It aims to boost US refining capacity by accelerating the review and approval process for new refineries in "refinery revitalization zones." It would override state and local authorities on siting power plants - a move that could boost prospects for a $20 billion proposal for new power lines from Wyoming to California. The House bill also includes money for clean-coal technology, hydrogen-fueled vehicles, and wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power.

In a controversial move, the House bill also reintroduces a provision that protects oil companies from lawsuits on the gasoline additive called MTBE, a provision that was a dealbreaker for the Senate in the 108th Congress.

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But even with showstoppers like MTBE in the mix, energy activists say they expect a bill to pass this year. On the Senate side, Democrats have been closely involved in drafting an energy bill, in sharp contrast to previous years.

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