Secretary Bodman offers optimistic view on US energy legislation

Washington (Platts)--7Jul2005

US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman expressed confidence Thursday that Congress
will enact comprehensive energy legislation after having failed to do so since
the beginning of the Bush administration. 

"I am very excited about the prospects for passage of an energy bill," Bodman
said in remarks prepared for delivery at a coal terminal in Charleston, West
Virginia. "President Bush has asked Congress to send him comprehensive energy
legislation for four years, and it appears that now finally is the time.
Congress should wrap up its work on these issues and send a bill to the
president's desk before it recesses next month." Bodman said West Virginia
would benefit significantly from energy bills passed this year by the Senate
and the House, adding that the measures, as well as Bush's 2001 national
energy plan, treat coal as "a cornerstone" of US energy policy. Bush, he
noted, has proposed spending $2-bil over 10 years to promote research into
clean coal technologies. The two energy bills, which must be reconciled by a
Senate-House conference, offer comparable financial support for clean-coal
technology.

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