Negotiators

In a direct plea to House-Senate negotiators on the energy bill, ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO James Mulva on Thursday called on conferees to “reconsider” their objections to providing Alaska gas producers with subsidies to offset the risks associated with building a proposed pipeline from the North Slope to the Lower 48 states.

Contrary to published reports stating that negotiators have removed from the energy bill a controversial production tax credit for natural gas transported over a proposed Alaska gas pipeline, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said Wednesday the tax credit and other financial incentives for the long-line gas system were “still in play.”

Top House-Senate Republican negotiators are shooting to have a conference committee vote on the final report for a broad energy bill by Friday, but they acknowledge that this might not occur if negotiations over the multi-billion tax title of the measure are not completed, and internal GOP differences over the electricity and ethanol provisions are not resolved by then.

“Let’s roll” was the oft-repeated refrain of Republican and some Democrat conferees Friday, as they met in an initial conference committee session and pledged to finish work by the end of the month on a comprehensive energy bill that would respond to the public’s concerns about an aging electric transmission infrastructure, potential winter price spikes in natural gas and obscenely high gasoline prices.

Assuming all of the conferees for the energy bill have been selected by then, conference negotiations on the comprehensive legislation are expected to get under way Friday, according to staff members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

House negotiators conferring on broad energy legislation (H.R. 4) offered Wednesday to expand the size of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) by 10 million acres in exchange for their Senate counterparts agreeing to allow oil and natural gas drilling on a 2,000-acre “footprint” in the Alaska wilderness region.

As Senate and House negotiators met last Thursday to work on the omnibus energy bill, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) offered for consideration a “discussion draft” proposal that would make it illegal for companies and individual parties to participate in round-trip, or “wash,” trades involving electricity. It did not address natural gas round-trip activities, but Barton spokeswoman Samantha Jordan said the draft was a “first step,” and that there was a “possibility” a ban on similar trades on the gas side would be added later.

As Senate and House negotiators met Thursday to work on the omnibus energy bill, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) offered for consideration a “discussion draft” proposal that would make it illegal for companies and individual parties to participate in round-trip, or “wash,” trades involving electricity. While it did not address natural gas round-trip activities, Barton spokeswoman Samantha Jordan noted the draft was a “first step,” and there was a “possibility” that a ban on similar trades on the gas side would be added later.

As Senate and House negotiators met Thursday to work on the omnibus energy bill, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) offered for consideration a “discussion draft” proposal that would make it illegal for companies and individual parties to participate in round-trip, or “wash,” trades involving electricity. While it did not address natural gas round-trip activities, Barton spokeswoman Samantha Jordan noted the draft was a “first step,” and there was a “possibility” that a ban on similar trades on the gas side would be added later.