US congressional negotiators reach deal on parts
of energy bill
Washington (Platts)--18Jul2005
US congressional negotiators working on a compromise energy bill have
tentatively agreed to authorize nearly $5-bil in spending over the next decade
for clean coal research and development, provide more than $3-bil for hydrogen
and fuel cell projects at the Dept of Energy and direct DOE to use a portion
of its budget to commercialize more technology.
The language is part of seven non-controversial sections of the bill that
conference committee leaders hope win approval at a meeting Tuesday. The chief
negotiator, Rep Joe Barton (Republican-Texas), has set meetings Tuesday and
Thursday in hopes of completing the bill by month's end, as President Bush has
requested. The consensus coal section would authorize $1.8-bil for research
between fiscal years 2006 and 2014. It also would include a House-backed
proposal that would give DOE authority to pay generators to install pollution
controls and retrofit old plants to cut pollution.
The House-passed bill would have authorized $3-bil for the program by fiscal
2013. The coal section includes language supporting gasification technology
and orders DOE to provide an $80-mil loan to help build a plant in Healy,
Alaska. For hydrogen, the compromise would provide $1.8-bil for research, a
Bush priority, and includes a $1.3-bil fuel cell demonstration program sought
by the Senate.
The efficiency title would extend Daylight Savings Time by two months; keep
the energy savings performance contracts program on the books until 2016; and
establish a host of new conservation standards. The language also would direct
DOE to use 0.9% of its applied r&d budget for technology transfer; establish a
program to commercialize flexible fuel and hybrid-electric vehicles; call for
$1.25-bil for a next-generation nuclear plant in Idaho and extend
Price-Anderson Act indemnification to utilities through 2025. It would order
the Dept of Transportation to study the feasibility of boosting auto fuel
economy significantly by model-year 2014.
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