Bipartisan

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has agreed to help lead a summit in mid-September in an attempt to reach a bipartisan compromise on energy legislation.

A coalition of House lawmakers, led by Reps. John Peterson (R-PA) and Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Thursday introduced a bipartisan, comprehensive energy bill that seeks to lift the congressional moratorium on oil and natural gas drilling in closed areas of the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Meanwhile, House leaders plan to take another go at anti-energy speculation legislation, but a Democratic aide said it’s likely to be after the August recess.

The growing bipartisan appeal of clean and efficient energy programs was evident as major environmental and business interests praised California’s move to adopt what state officials are touting as the nation’s first statewide “green” building code. The California Building Standards Commission said it acted at the direction of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In an open letter to Congress and the next president, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a bipartisan group of energy officials and industry leaders this week called for a strategic long-term energy policy for the United States.

The Senate last Thursday approved a bipartisan measure that would increase federal oversight authority of trading on currently unregulated electronic energy platforms, such as Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange (ICE). The proposal is part of the reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which was folded into the $288 billion farm bill (HR 2419) that was passed Friday.

The Senate Thursday approved a bipartisan measure that would increase federal oversight of trading on currently unregulated electronic energy platforms, such as Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange (ICE). The proposal is part of the reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which was folded into the $288 billion farm bill (HR 2419) that passed 79-14 Friday.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers last Thursday called on an appropriations subcommittee chairman to insert language in the fiscal year 2008 spending bill that would bar the Department of Energy (DOE) from using federal funds to designate two National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETC) in the Mid-Atlantic and Southwest regions of the country.

Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Larry Craig (R-ID) introduced bipartisan energy security legislation last Wednesday that, among other things, would permit domestic producers to explore for oil and natural gas in U.S. and Cuban waters located as close as 45 miles from Florida.

Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Larry Craig (R-ID) plan to introduce bipartisan energy security legislation Wednesday that, among other things, would permit U.S. producers to explore for oil and natural gas in Cuban waters located as close as 45 miles from Florida.