Congress

A key priority of Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will be to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as part of the budget reconciliation process next year, according to spokeswoman Marne Funk.

A key priority of Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will be to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as part of the budget reconciliation process next year, according to spokeswoman Marne Funk.

If Congress doesn’t move forward with a comprehensive energy bill that includes electric reliability provisions or a stand-alone power reliability bill, FERC and the power industry “are going to have to work together to figure out what we can do to try to prevent a repeat of the blackout in August of 2003,” a top official with FERC said last Wednesday at a meeting sponsored by the Energy Bar Association (EBA).

With Congress due back in session in less than two weeks, Republican staffers believe they may have reached a compromise on the controversial issue of liability protection for producers of the gasoline additive, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), that has held up the Senate energy bill since the start of the year.

As the prospects for Congress passing a broad energy bill this year grow dim, Reps. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA) last Wednesday introduced separate legislation aimed at bolstering the reliability of the electricity grid and easing run-away energy prices.

Increasing natural gas prices should not scare Congress into allowing greedy gas producers to drill willy-nilly across environmentally sensitive areas or areas currently blocked by drilling moratoria, environmentalists, ranchers, public interest groups and scientists said last Wednesday during a teleconference on the “real story behind the natural gas crisis.”

Increasing natural gas prices should not scare Congress into allowing greedy gas producers to drill willy-nilly across environmentally sensitive areas or areas currently blocked by drilling moratoria, environmentalists, ranchers, public interest groups and scientists said on Wednesday during a teleconference on the “real story behind the natural gas crisis.” The conference was organized by the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE), the Northern Plains Resource Council and The Wilderness Society.

In discussions with the Bush administration, members of Congress and industry representatives in Washington, DC, Tuesday, Canadian Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal reiterated Canada’s desire that any provisions in the energy bill dealing with a northern natural gas pipeline be “route neutral” with no subsidies. The private sector should determine the route, he said.

As the energy scandals multiplied and intensified last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — the agency that normally probes industry improprieties — had the tables abruptly turned on itself. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who is leading the charge into Enron Corp. and other energy mischief on Capitol Hill, called for an independent investigation into the “behavior and contacts” of FERC to find out why it apparently looked the other way while Enron and possibly other energy suppliers engaged in wholesale manipulation of energy prices in California and other western states. He proposed that a special counsel be appointed to plumb the depths of energy suppliers’ improprieties in western markets, and the agency’s response.