WASHINGTON -- By a razor-thin, tension-packed vote of 212 to 210, House Republicans yesterday pushed through an energy bill to push the building of new refineries, but environmentalists said it was exploiting Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to help the oil industry.

At the last minute, faced with possible defeat of the bill, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, removed a controversial proposal that would have weakened provisions of the Clean Air Act and toughened penalties for price-gouging to $11,000 per violation.

But Democrats were outraged that instead of voting for five minutes, Republicans changed the rules to permit 45 minutes of voting to get the two votes they needed to pass the measure.

Not one Democrat voted for the measure.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said, "What you saw on the House floor this afternoon was a shameless display of the Republican culture of corruption, as it exists in the House of Representatives. It demonstrated once again that the Republican majority will go to any length to satisfy the greed of the energy companies over meeting the needs of the American people."

Opponents argue that the oil industry shut down many refineries in the 1990s to increase profits.

But President Bush earlier in the week said that because no new refineries have been built since 1974, it was up to Congress to offer tax incentives and relief from regulations for new refineries.

But the outlook in the Senate is not clear. There is similar legislation pending but no bill that is exactly the same.

Anna Aurilio, legislative director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said she thinks the Republican strategy is to have a conference committee secretly work out a bill combining elements of the House bill that could not pass the Senate.

Western Pennylvania legislators who voted for the House bill include Reps. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Hills, John Peterson, R-Venango, Philip English, R-Erie, Bud Shuster, R-Blair, Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair.

Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Pittsburgh, and John Murtha, D-Johnstown, voted against it.

Mr. Doyle said the bill would eviscerate important existing environmental protection laws. He said the bill would do nothing to lower the price of gasoline for five years but would gut "hard-won" environmental laws. "What's worse, if a refinery is sited in your community and you fight that permit and lose, you get stuck with all the legal costs incurred by the oil company. This is a shameless pay-off for a politically connected industry that's already raking in record profits."