Washington (Platts)--21Aug2008

Colorado Representative Mark Udall Thursday asked US House of
Representative leaders to hold a vote before the November election on a
bipartisan compromise energy bill that would include both offshore drilling
and a renewable energy standard for utilities.

"We've got to throw the kitchen sink at this energy challenge with steps
that lower gas prices now and put our country on a more secure path to energy
independence," said the Democratic candidate for US Senate in a letter
addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
Pelosi has already said she would hold a vote this fall on a package the
leadership is compiling. It will mainly be composed of measures that have
received a House vote before.

"I believe that the solution involves developing energy of all
kinds -- oil, gas, wind, solar, biomass and nuclear," Udall told the leaders.

The congressman is locked in a tight contest for a US Senate seat being
vacated by Republican Wayne Allard, and has seen his lead over Republican
rival Bob Schaffer dwindle to single digits in recent weeks.

The cost of gasoline has figured heavily in the Senate race, which
conservative group Freedom's Watch targeted this week with a television
advertisement that blasted Udall for having skipped a vote to adjourn the
House for August recess, rather than keeping it in session to vote on offshore
drilling and other items on a Republican energy wishlist.

Udall's campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have
countered by blasting Schaffer as a proxy for the oil industry, which has
donated $105,000 to his campaign this cycle according to OpenSecrets.org. The
Petroleum industry is not a major donor to Udall's campaign. Schaffer's
campaign did not return calls for comment.

Udall spokeswoman Heather Fox said the letter to his party's leadership
was intended mainly to support his call for the inclusion of an RES in the
forthcoming House bill. Pelosi has said all along that she strongly supports
requiring utilities to derive some of their power from renewables such as
wind, solar, and biomass, however, so this would seem to be an easy sell.

More controversial might be other elements of Udall's proposal, developed
with Colorado Democrat colleague John Salazar, such as expanded offshore
drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf.

While Pelosi has said her bill might include some new access for
production, Udall held up a proposal by 10 bipartisan senators who call
themselves the "Gang of Ten" that would open significant new areas of the
Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico to drilling. Udall has embraced the
bipartisan group's proposal, though he supports accommodating Florida's two
senators concerns about drilling in the eastern Gulf.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has welcomed the "Gang of 10's"
proposal and charged his staff with helping to write it. The bill is expected
to be introduced when the Senate returns from August recess after the two
party's national conventions. Pelosi, meanwhile, has said little about the
Senate compromise bill.

--Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com