US Senate budget bill will not include language to open OCS

Washington (Platts)--18Oct2005

The US Senate budget reconciliation bill will not include a provision
that would open to oil and natural gas drilling areas of the Outer Continental
Shelf that are now off limits, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
Chairman Pete Domenici (Republican-New Mexico) said Tuesday.
     Domenici, nevertheless, urged President Bush and Congress to find another
way to open up areas of so-called Lease 181 in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Florida lawmakers continue to balk at attempts to drill off the shore of their
state.
     "The benefits that more natural gas from Lease 181 can provide cannot be
ignored while we struggle through a potentially crippling energy crisis,"
Domenici said during a hearing on the expected high fuel prices this winter. 
     At the hearing, representatives of the natural gas and electricity
industries also urged Congress to consider some short-term solutions to high
fuel costs. Both the American Gas Assn and the Edison Electric Institute asked
Congress to fully fund the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to the
$5.1-bil level that already has been authorized by Congress.
     Both groups urged increased access to onshore and offshore oil and
natural gas supplies, and AGA added that Congress should provide adequate
funding and staffing to expedite permitting for natural gas exploration and
production. The two groups, however, diverged somewhat on the issue of fuel
diversity. EEI told the committee it opposes the federally mandated "efficient
dispatch" proposal, a renewable portfolio standard and any effort to limit
utility access to gas for electricity generation.     
     AGA urged Congress to "accelerate all energy-efficiency rulemaking and
ensure fuel diversity for new electricity generation facilities."
                                    ---Joel Kirkland, joel_kirkland@platts.com

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