House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) has called on the task force on natural gas to complete its final report by Sept. 30 so that the findings and recommendations can be considered by conferees as part of the broad national energy bill now being negotiated on Capitol Hill.

“I want to make sure your recommendations can be fully considered and deliberated during the energy bill’s House-Senate conference. It is in that balanced and comprehensive energy package that we have the best opportunity to help provide some much-needed relief to consumers, workers and the American economy when it comes to natural gas, electricity and a number of other energy issues,” wrote Hastert last week to the task force co-chairmen, Reps. W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (R-LA) and Richard Pombo (R-CA).

Republican leaders of the conference committee, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Tauzin, have said they plan to have a proposed final conference report on the energy bill ready for consideration sometime this week.

Hastert said he hoped the task force would recommend greater access to domestic gas sources for producers, a reduction in the “enormous regulatory burden severely hampering exploration and production of natural gas on public lands,” and that lawmakers enact policies favoring electric generation by “as diverse a selection of fuels as possible.”

Natural gas “must remain available and affordable,” he noted. “My fear is that if we do not get our arms around the dilemma facing us with extraordinarily high natural gas prices and historically low natural gas inventories, the same folks negatively impacted by the [Aug. 14 power] blackout — as well as those of us in the rest of America — could see our monthly utility bills doubled compared to last year. This would be another slap in the face” of the public and blow to the U.S. economy, Hastert wrote.

When submitted, the report will be available on the task force’s web site at https://energycommerce.house.gov/naturalgastaskforce.

The task force report will come on the heels of the high-profile National Petroleum Council (NPC) study released last Thursday, which recommended that gas producers be given greater access on federal lands (particularly in the Rocky Mountain region), and that Congress begin to phase out the moratoriums against drilling in certain Outer Continental Shelf areas. It called for a number of other actions as well, including more energy efficiency and conservation, faster permitting of gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, and the construction of an Alaska gas pipeline (see related story).

“The NPC study confirms that access to affordable natural gas is one of the nation’s most urgent needs. It is absolutely critical that our new national energy policy addresses these needs by allowing for more natural gas exploration and development offshore and on non-park federal lands,” said Tauzin and Pombo in a joint statement.

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