WASHINGTON - Republican leaders in the House slated a Friday vote on a bill that would boost US refining capacity and postponed a plan to lift an offshore drilling ban and open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to exploration, aides said Monday.
After hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the heart of the US oil industry, Republicans proposed a raft of energy legislation addressing refineries, drilling, retail prices and vehicle mileage requirements.
The House Energy Committee last week swiftly finished writing a bill that aims to add 2 million barrels per day of US refining capacity by offering abandoned military bases and federal land as construction sites.
No new US refinery has been built since 1976, despite a steady increase in gasoline consumption.
The entire House is scheduled to debate and vote on the bill Friday.
However, the debate will no longer include a companion bill to expand US drilling, according to a spokeswoman for House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo, a California Republican.
Pombo's panel last week wrote an energy bill that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling and let states opt out of the offshore oil leasing ban.
Other measures in the refinery legislation would cut the number of anti-pollution gasoline blends to just six and require the Federal Trade Commission to define gasoline price profiteering and punish violators.
The bill's most controversial item would gut a portion of the Clean Air Act known as "new source review" that requires costly new equipment to cut emissions when refineries are expanded.
The ANWR drilling plan will be included in budget reconciliation legislation the House could consider later this year, the Pombo spokeswoman said.
Also delayed is a plan the House Resources panel approved by voice vote that would allow natural gas drilling in all banned Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) waters off Florida and other states. Currently, federal offshore drilling is allowed only in Alaska, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
A plan pushed by Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii and Republican Rep. John Peterson of Pennsylvania goes too far, Pombo's spokeswoman said. Pombo supports less permissive language that gives states the right to opt out of the existing ban in exchange for a cut of drilling royalties that energy companies must pay.
A state opt-out plan could be included in budget legislation or submitted as stand-alone legislation, she said.
Florida and some other states oppose offshore drilling, fearing it could hurt their tourism industries.
An estimated 79 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- more than three years of domestic consumption at current levels -- lie under waters where leasing is now banned.
The Interior Department's 2007-2012 offshore plan would not allow drilling within 100 miles of Florida's coast. Florida lawmakers say that leaves the door open for drilling in area 181, about 300 miles off Tampa.
Pombo is working on a plan that would rule out drilling anywhere off Florida, energy lobbyists said.
Story by Chris Baltimore
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
