WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi solidified Democratic support behind her energy initiatives Monday and quieted rebellious party members who feared U.S. energy production would be hurt.
Democratic leaders reached agreement on legislation that would impose nearly $16 billion in additional taxes on oil companies over 10 years and use the money to promote renewable energy programs and energy conservation and efficiency.
To garner broader Democratic support, Pelosi scrapped proposed changes in the way royalties are collected from offshore federal oil and gas leases. Also dropped was a provision that would have made it harder for the federal government to designate nationally significant corridors for pipelines and electric power lines.
Pelosi, bowing to Democratic lawmakers in oil-producing regions, agreed to some changes in the way permits are issued for energy leases on federal land.
Congress two years ago gave new authority for the federal government to designate energy corridors to ease power grid congestion. The House Resources Committee, in its portion of the bill, had put severe restrictions on that authority, provisions the Democrats agreed Monday to scrap.
‘The speaker has sought to bring about Democratic unity’ on the energy package, said a Pelosi spokesman, Drew Hammill.
The Democratic bill avoids, however, several of the toughest energy fights, by not including measures to increase automobile fuel economy, a mandate to use more ethanol as a substitute for gasoline, or to require electric utilities to use renewable fuels.
These issues could still be brought up as amendments when the legislation comes up for a floor vote, probably Friday. It is likely to be the last action by the House before lawmakers depart for the monthlong summer recess.
A sizable number of Democrats had opposed provisions they viewed as detrimental to domestic oil and gas production, including a requirement that energy companies pay cash for oil and gas taken under federal offshore drilling leases.
A coalition of 47 moderate to conservative Democrats, known as the ‘Blue Dogs,’ had threatened to withhold support unless the royalty-in-kind option was preserved and changes were made in the lease permitting and energy corridor provisions.
With strong GOP opposition to the bill, Pelosi needs the Blue Dogs’ support if she is to fulfill a promise to get energy legislation passed before the August congressional recess.
Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, co-chairman of the Blue Dogs’ energy task force, said that while he still had some concerns he felt Pelosi had ‘moved along way in improving this bill.’
Republicans have ridiculed the Democrats’ energy package, saying it ignores the need to produce more domestic oil, coal and natural gas or to help expand nuclear power. Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the ranking Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, dubbed it the ‘non-energy, energy bill.’
But Pelosi and many other Democrats have maintained it steers a new direction in energy priorities, seeking to promote conservation and renewable energy sources such as ethanol and biodiesel and power from wind turbines.
It includes tax breaks, loan guarantees and other incentives to develop renewable energy sources, hybrid gas-electric cars that would get their juice from the electricity grid, and new efficiency standards for an array of appliances and equipment.
The energy legislation has been the focus of intense lobbying by both industry and environmentalists in recent days.
Environmentalists and advocates for renewable energy sources, especially the wind industry, have urged lawmakers to add to the legislation a national requirement for utilities to produced at least 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources.
Pelosi has been open to taking up the electricity issue on the House floor, though its prospects there are uncertain. Lawmakers from much of the Southeast oppose a national renewable electricity requirement, arguing that utilities would not be able to comply without raising electricity prices.
It remains unclear whether automobile fuel economy will be raised at all when the energy bill comes to the floor.
The issue has caused tension between Pelosi and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., the most senior lawmaker in the House, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and a staunch protecter of the auto industry, which is based in his home state.
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