Washington (Platts)--19Mar2009

For the second time since the start of 2009, the US Senate on Thursday
passed a omnibus public lands bill that some Republicans say would
unnecessarily withdraw 2.2 million acres from potentially being used for
energy production. The bill passed on a 77-20 vote.

Republicans in both chambers have opposed the bill, saying it would
impede energy production on public lands. But many Republicans support the
measure, which includes 160 individual public lands bills, many of which have
sponsors from that party.

The Senate passed a similar bill in January, but it was narrowly blocked
by Republicans in the House of Representatives when that chamber's leaders
brought it to the floor on March 11 under rules that prohibited any amendments
but required the support of two-thirds of the House.

Since then, the measure has been renamed after an unrelated bill that has
already been passed by the House (H.R. 146). This maneuver will allow the
House to pass the bill with a simple majority and without amendments now that
the Senate has approved it.

The omnibus bill would, among other things, place 1.2 million acres of
the Wyoming Range off-limits to oil and natural gas producers. The US
Geological Survey puts the range's reserves at 1.5 Tcf of gas and 5 million
barrels of oil, though some Republicans believe the totals to be higher.

The bill is intended to protect moose, lynx, mule deer and other animals
on the range, and would prohibit the future leasing of the area for oil and
gas production. More than 700,000 acres currently under lease would not be
affected by the bill.

Supporters of the bill point out that Wyoming's Democratic governor and
both Republican senators support it.

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act would also be expanded in a way
that would prohibit electricity transmission siting immediately around
protected rivers.

The bill would also withdraw some areas from wind, solar and geothermal
development, though trade associations for those industries have not expressed
much concern about those restrictions.

Senator Tom Coburn, Republican-Oklahoma, tried unsuccessfully to strip
the prohibitions on renewable energy development from the bill.

"What we ought to do is make sure we don't limit further energy resources
for this country," said Coburn, who has also strenuously opposed banning oil
and gas development in wilderness areas. His office said he offered the
renewables amendments because he hoped it would garner more support than one
dealing with petroleum production.

"Before we do a monstrous [carbon] cap-and-trade [scheme] that is going
to severely raise everybody's electrical rates in this country, we are going
to limit an alternative supply for electricity with this bill, because we are
going to limit the access to geothermal, we are going to limit the access to
wind, and we are going to limit the access to solar, and solar thermal
electricity generation," Coburn said.

However, both the Energy and Natural Resources Committee's Chairman, Jeff
Bingaman of New Mexico, and its Ranking Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska,
opposed the amendment.

"There are 2 million acres of new wild areas here, we do not want wind
farms in those wildernesses," said Bingaman.

Murkowski said that transmission lines could be built in the new
wilderness areas if the US president declared they were needed in the case of
an emergency.

--Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com