Washington (Platts)--5Jun2007
US House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall intends to replace a draft energy bill -- panned by both Republicans and Democrats -- with another version when his committee meets to vote on the measure Wednesday, his spokeswoman said Tuesday. The substitute legislation, which will be offered in an amendment, will feature "dramatic changes" from the draft version, committee spokeswoman Allyson Ivins Groff told Platts Tuesday. The legislation is set to be marked-up, or prepared for floor action by the full House, on Wednesday. A controversial section of the draft, which sought to establish strict federal regulations on the siting and operating of wind farms, has been altered significantly in the substitute, she said. Democrats and environmentalists expressed concern that the provision would effectively shut down the burgeoning wind industry, at least for several years. The substitute seeks to alleviate those concerns. The West Virginia congressman's substitute also will re-work several sections of the draft bill that dealt with altering the 2005 Energy Policy Act in an effort to tighten environmental regulations, which Democrats felt were loosened in the earlier Republican-written bill. The bill would still revoke sections of the Energy Policy Act that divert half of rental fees paid for oil and natural gas production on private lands into a fund that facilitates the US Bureau of Land Management permitting process. In place of a more detailed fee structure, the substitute adopts the Bush administration's approach of imposing a flat fee on all applications for oil and gas permitting on public land. Many Republicans, as well as business and energy trade groups, complained that the draft bill would make the US more dependent on foreign energy sources by all but shutting down access to new acreage for development, and that it would also raise oil, gas and electricity prices. --Cathy Landry, cathy_landry@platts.com --Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com
|
