US House energy chief sees ANWR law passage this summer

Washington (Platts)--10May2006

US House Energy Committee Chairman Joe Barton Wednesday said he expected
legislation to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas
drilling to pass both the House and Senate this summer.

"I don't know how you can vote no," Barton told reporters before a
hearing on gasoline prices. The senators who had previously voted against
opening the coastal plain of ANWR "are paying $3/gal for their gasoline, and
their constituents are too," he said.

The House has previously passed ANWR legislation but the Senate has been
unable to garner the 60 votes necessary to approve the measure through the
normal legislative process.

Barton, a Texas Republican, said he expected several "discrete energy
bills" to be considered in the next several months, including a bill to give
the US Transportation Department greater ability to lift fuel economy
standards for passenger cars.

That measure is to be negotiated in Barton's committee later Wednesday,
and brought to a full House vote "fairly quickly--in the next two weeks."

Barton also said the refinery permitting bill, which failed to receive
the necessary two-thirds votes when it was brought to the House floor last
week, will move back to the floor next week. It will require only a majority
vote for passage, he said.

Barton said he was investigating whether to move legislation to give the
administration the discretion to lift, eliminate or reduce the tariff on
imported non-Caribbean Basin ethanol for about two to three years based on
gasoline and ethanol prices and ethanol availability. Barton noted that "there
currently is not enough ethanol to meet growing demand."

--Cathy Landry, cathy_landry@platts.com

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