Washington (Platts)--12Jun2007

A few hours away from a US Senate floor debate on a wide-ranging
bipartisan energy bill, a senior Republican Tuesday called the legislation
"very premature" and "tremendously unbalanced" for not having greater
US production measures to deal with the country's immediate fuel needs.

     Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican who sits on the US Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee, told reporters that the bill needs more US
production measures to gain strong Republican support on the Senate floor. In
May, the bill cleared the committee on a 20-3 vote.

     The Senate is expected to take up Tuesday afternoon S. 1419, which is
sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. The bill,
among other things, would mandate a corporate average fuel economy for
passenger vehicles of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, promote energy efficiency,
boost biofuel production to 36 billion gallons in 2022 and support research
for carbon capture and sequestration.

     Craig said bipartisan amendments will be offered, including those dealing
with increased exploration in the eastern portion of the US Gulf of Mexico and
the US Outer Continental Shelf. Still, Craig said he would not go as far to
say that no additional production measures would kill the bill. For his vote,
however, Craig -- who plans to support CAFE for the first time -- said he
wants provisions for near-term production. "I can't go home and say to someone
who just paid $125 to fill up their pickup truck and say, 'I'm worried about
your future,'" Craig said.

     Craig also said he is working with Senator Pete Domenici, the New Mexico
senior Republican on the energy committee, on an amendment for a "clean
portfolio standard." The CPS would set a national mandatory requirement for
electric utilities to meet 20% of their retail sales by 2020 with low-emission
energy generation. 

     Electricity supplies may include all renewable forms, but also new
nuclear power, low-emission coal-fired power, incremental hydroelectric,
fuel cells and technologies that store carbon dioxide and electricity saved
through demand-side management.

     The amendment likely will be offered as an alternative to a renewable
energy portfolio standard of 15% by 2020 that committee Chairman Jeff
Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, plans to propose during floor debate on
the bill. Craig told reporters that he believes the CPS has "majority support"
and is talking with Domenici about offering the amendment regardless of the
vote on Bingaman's RPS proposal.

		--Cathy Cash, cathy_cash@platts.com