House passes energy bill; conflict with Senate likely

WASHINGTON -- The Republican majority in the House was rushing toward approval of a massive energy bill and suddenly activity came to a stop.

A five-minute vote on a minor amendment on the House floor was not announced for nearly an hour. Behind the scenes, GOP leaders were scrambling.

Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., had maneuvered a way to force a vote on a controversial provision that would protect makers of the gasoline additive MTBE from water pollution lawsuits -- something GOP leaders were trying to avoid.

Now Capps would get her vote.

In what Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the bill's floor leader, called "the cliffhanger of the day," Capps' attempt to kill the MTBE provision fell six votes shot. But simply getting a vote on the issue was viewed by Democrats as a major victory because it put lawmakers on record on a politically sensitive issue in thousands of communities.

It was a rare win Democrats managed to get as Republicans steamrolled a wide-reaching energy bill through the House on Thursday. The Senate was expected to take up energy legislation in the coming weeks.

The House-passed bill reflects broadly Republican energy priorities and those of the White House.

It would open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, provide $12 billion in tax breaks and subsidies to traditional energy industries including oil, natural gas, nuclear and coal producers.

Opponents of the legislation said it would do little to foster less energy use. A proposal to require higher fuel economy for cars was rejected.

The administration embraced the bill, although a White House analysis expressed reservations about the size of the incentives to the oil and gas industries, especially a $2 billion subsidy for developing oil and gas in deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

After passage, President Bush praised the bill as "an important step to secure our energy future and to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy." Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the measure was not perfect, but "we now have a bill, something to work with."

After two days of debate and amendments, the legislation was approved 249-183, with 41 Democrats joining the GOP majority.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said the size of the Democratic support was a sign that this year's legislation might fare better in the Senate than the bill two years ago that died there.

To foster less energy use, the House bill calls for extending daylight-saving time by two months and offering tax breaks for homeowners to install more energy efficient windows and insulation. The bill's supporters also said that provisions requiring refiners to use more corn-based ethanol in gasoline and allowing oil drilling in the Alaska refuge would reduce U.S. reliance on imports.

Most Democrats denounced the bill as a giveaway to energy industries.

It is "clearly designed to help energy companies make more money, not help the American people save money," said Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California. She called it "anti-consumer, anti-taxpayer, anti-environment" and said it fails to address major concerns of people across the country: high gasoline and other energy costs.

Republican supporters of the bill acknowledged it does little to lower record high prices at the pump, but argued that the provisions are aimed at broadening and increasing the country's energy supply in the long run. They contend that if the bill had become law four years ago, when Bush issued his energy task force report, the current energy problems might not be as acute.

The MTBE gas additive issue brought the most dramatic moment as the House closed in on its final vote Thursday.

Capps said groundwater contamination from the additive has affected more than 1,800 community water systems in 29 states with a potential cleanup cost of $29 billion.

Her amendment to remove the provision failed 219-213.

"That was a surrogate vote on Tom DeLay," said Barton. The MTBE provision has been a top priority of DeLay, the majority leader who also has been under criticism from Democrats because of ethics issues. DeLay had insisted on the MTBE industry protection in the bill that passed the House but stalled in the Senate when Democrats launched a filibuster over MBTE in 2003.

Democrats also tried to eliminate a provision allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge but failed by a vote of 231-200.

Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., said the refuge was a unique place that deserved protection but argued that it also was one of the few places left where substantial amounts of domestic crude could be recovered.

"We don't have to choose between providing the energy resources ... and protecting our environment," said Pombo, maintaining that modern drilling techniques can gather the oil without harming wildlife.

Critics of the proposal said the oil won't be available for a decade and then will not be enough -- as much as 1 million barrels a day -- to significantly affect either prices or the need for large amounts of imports.