House panel nixes effort to strip E&P incentives from energy bill
Washington (Platts)--13Apr2005
The US House Resources Committee Wednesday rejected an amendment to delete provisions from energy legislation that would provide incentives for oil and gas production. The provisions include the suspension of royalties for natural gas production from deep wells in the shallow US Gulf and for deepwater gas production. The amendment, offered by Rep. Raul Grijalva (Democrat-Arizona), would have deleted those provisions. The Interior Department has granted royalty relief through administrative actions, but the legislation would make the incentives mandatory. The provisions allowed the interior secretary to limit the suspension of royalties based on market prices, but didn't specify a price level. Rep. Nick Rahall (Democrat-West Virginia), who supported the amendment to remove the provisions, asked, "How on earth can you justify throwing open the doors of the Treasury to oil companies at a time that they are reaping huge profits?" The House Resources Committee also rejected an amendment offered by Rep. Frank Pallone (Democrat-New Jersey) to strike a provision giving the interior secretary authority to grant leases, easements or rights-of-way for oil and gas exploration and production, transport and storage. Pallone said the provision would give "total authority for new uses of the Outer Continental Shelf to one individual without giving states the right to protect their coastlines." A second Pallone amendment, also defeated, would have deleted a provision setting a 120-day deadline for the commerce secretary to rule on appeals of a state's determination on whether activities along its coast, such as drilling, are consistent with its coastal use regulations. Pallone said setting an "arbitrary deadline" undermines state laws. Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (Republican-California), suggesting that Pallone combine his amendments to save time, although he predicted either or both efforts would go down in defeat. The Resources Committee is considering provisions to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas leasing. Any effort to strip the ANWR language from the energy bill is expected to be defeated. The House Energy Committee Wednesday was also considering energy bill provisions coming within its jurisdiction. It rejected an amendment offered by Rep. Ed Markey (Democrat-Massachusetts) to increase the average auto fleet fuel economy standard to 33 miles/gal by 2014 from the current 27.5 MPG. Democrats representing auto manufacturing districts joined Republicans to defeat the amendment. This story was originally published in Platts Global Alert http://www.globalalert.platts.com
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