Energy Package Moves Forward

House republican leaders are fast-tracking legislation that would lift the longtime federal ban on drilling for natural gas along most of the nation's shorelines, open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil production, and make it easier to build new petroleum refineries and expand existing facilities.

“The days between hurricanes Katrina and Rita painfully confirmed that U.S. energy production and infrastructure are too concentrated in one region of the country,” House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.) said last week. But Democrats charged that Republicans were exploiting supply disruptions and rising prices by rushing to push through controversial regulatory relief measures for industry that Congress had rejected this summer when it passed a bill overhauling U.S. energy policy.

On a mostly partisan vote of 27 to 16, the Resources Committee approved a Republican-drafted plan that would expand offshore drilling and open the northern coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska to oil production. The bill will be combined with a separate measure to spur refinery construction approved by the House Energy & Commerce Committee on a voice vote. The full House could act on the legislation as early as this week.

The Resources Committee approved an amendment by Rep. John E. Peterson (R-Pa.) that would lift the federal ban on natural gas production on the entire outer continental shelf (OCS), which begins 3 miles offshore for most states. The underlying bill would also give states authority to opt out of the moratorium on oil drilling off their coasts. Since 1981, oil and gas development has been banned in most federally controlled coastal waters outside the central and western Gulf of Mexico because of environmental concerns.

Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) tried to strike the offshore and ANWR drilling provisions from the bill, but both attempts were rejected by party-line votes. "We do not have to choose between drilling in our national preserved lands or being at the mercy of oil from the Middle East," Markey argued. "This push for drilling in the Arctic Refuge and the OCS is completely unnecessary when we could save oil by simply improving the average fuel economy of cars, minivans, and SUVs."

Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) said his plan to boost the nation's refinery capacity by 2 million barrels per day is needed to address fuel shortages and skyrocketing gasoline prices. In addition to streamlining the permitting process for new refineries, Barton said the bill would "bring clarity" to the Clean Air Act's new source review (NSR) program, which requires industrial plants to install new pollution controls when they make modifications that increase emissions. The legislation would codify a Bush Administration regulation that would allow plants to expand without triggering NSR requirements.

The National Petrochemical & Refiners Association applauded Barton's effort to increase U.S. refining capacity, and the American Chemistry Council endorsed Pombo's bid to allow greater access to domestic natural gas supplies.

Both bills are strongly opposed by environmental groups and face major obstacles in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to avoid a filibuster and pass controversial legislation.