Washington (Platts)--12Feb2008

A leading US Senate supporter of renewable energy tax credits said
Tuesday that if a bill that uses rollbacks to oil and natural gas subsidies to
pay for extensions for other energy industries were to come to the Senate for
another vote, it would likely fail a third time.

Senate Finance Committee member Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat,
said "I think we're going to look at a different way of doing it, considering
that we've had two attempts already."

Senate Democrats failed twice to attach a tax package to last year's
comprehensive energy measure that would have extended tax breaks for wind,
solar, biomass, efficiency and other technologies past their December 2008
expiration date while eliminating incentives for the fossil fuels industry.

"The fundamental disagreement is that the White House won't do this by
paying for it," Cantwell said. "The House, and I'm sure many of us, would
like to do this by paying for it."

Cantwell predicted that if a US House of Representatives bill, which
likely will be introduced Wednesday, is sent to the Senate, the same 59
senators who voted for it in December as part of the Energy Independence and
Security Act of 2007 would probably vote for it again, but 60 votes are need
to move controversial legislation in the Senate and an additional seven votes
would be needed to overcome a likely veto from President Bush.

The House bill is expected to resemble a $16 billion measure that the
House Ways and Means Committee crafted last year.

"I don't think anybody in our [Democratic] caucus wants to give up,
because it is so stimulative for our long-term economy," said Cantwell. She
argued that oil prices would continue to rise, which will be a drag on the
economy.

She said that the Finance Committee would pursue a different kind of
extender bill in the "very near future" and added that it was considering not
offsetting the incentives or, at least, offsetting them differently.

Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana has not said much about
the pending House measure, but has said he plans to extend the credits this
year. Rodell Mollineau, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said
the leader had discussed the bill with the office of House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and believed there was a good chance of passage in the Senate with
"more bipartisan cooperation."

--Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com