FYI, This is really good news!  However, other House
members--commmittee chairs like Pombo-are insisting that Arctic be
included.
Phyllis Mains

ANWR OMITTED FROM ENERGY BILL
By Brian DeBose
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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House energy committee leaders agreed to leave out language that allows
drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in hopes of
attracting more Democratic support for a comprehensive energy bill.


    Rep. Joe L. Barton, Texas Republican and head of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee, yesterday said the bill likely will include
upgrades to the nation's electricity grids, incentives for hydrogen fuel
cell vehicles, and exemptions from some class-action lawsuits for the
producers of the fuel additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).


    Efforts to pass an energy package have been stymied in the past two
years by Senate Democrats and a few Republicans, who say opening the
refuge is too risky and would be detrimental to Alaska's ecosystem.
Opponents also say that shielding MTBE manufacturers would be unfair.


    Mr. Barton said that separating ANWR drilling would make it easier
for the Senate to pass the energy bill and give both sides more time to
come to an agreement.


    He did not discount White House backing of the plan. "I think ANWR
will be something the president signs into law this year," he said.


    Rep. Ralph M. Hall, a Texas Republican who recently left the
Democratic Party, hopes to propose a stand-alone ANWR bill next week.


    "I would like to introduce a bill where you weren't relegated to
1,500 to 2,000 acres to drill, but that would be a tough bill for a lot
of the greenies to take on," Mr. Hall said of environmentalists. "It
makes no sense that we have 20 million acres up there and yet we are
limited to this small amount of land."

     Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the ranking Democrat on the energy
committee, approved of omitting ANWR but wants MTBE language out of the
main energy bill as well.

    House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Texas Republican, has insisted on
compensating producers of the fuel additive who have been hammered with
lawsuits. The product has been called unsafe because of its potential to
contaminate drinking water when it is not properly stored.

    Mr. Barton intends to stand by Mr. DeLay on the issue.

     "I will never compromise on a principle. MTBE works, it is the
cheapest way to produce cleaner fuel emissions and it is not a defective
product," Mr. Barton said. "We're not trying to protect MTBE producers
against any and all lawsuits, but we will protect them against suits
that deem MTBE is at its base a defective product."

    Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat and member of the energy panel, said
the MTBE proposal will raise the same objections as it did last year and
"shows a propensity to appease special interests."

    Another debate is brewing over granting royalty relief to companies
to create natural gas wells in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico
using deep and ultra-deep drilling technology.

    Democrats and Republicans of the Florida delegation and from the
West Coast states want to keep big rigs far from the coastlines and are
expected to aggressively oppose such a proposal.

     Mr. Hall dismissed drilling opponents' arguments as "Santa Barbara
rhetoric."

    He said the $3.1 billion that he wants to add to the main energy
package is a bipartisan research and development proposal.

     But Sen. Mel Martinez, Florida Republican and a member of the energy
committee, said, "Gulf Coast drilling is absolutely a non-starter for
me, and the more aggressive they are about Gulf drilling, the more
difficult it is for me to support ANWR."

     Mr. Wyden said he would like to see the deep-drilling proposal
before passing judgment.

     Mr. Barton and Mr. Hall said they will work to reach an agreement
with Democratic committee members, and most notably its ranking member,
Rep. John D. Dingell of Michigan.

    "We are not trying to railroad him and his members. We want to work
with them," Mr. Hall said.

    "If we get no Democrats, then we will talk to the White House and
figure out what we should have in the bill, go to the floor and pass
it," Mr. Barton said. "We have the votes to do that, but I do think we
should have a bipartisan bill. The more bipartisanship, the better
chance it has to withstand the Senate."

    Mr. Barton said he hopes the committee will have a comprehensive
energy plan sometime after Easter.

 ---------------------------------------------------------
This article was mailed from The Washington Times
(http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050216-123420-8957r.htm)
For more great articles, visit us at http://www.washingtontimes.com

Copyright (c) 2005 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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