Gas promotion bill is a long shot
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WASHINGTON -- Thwarted time and again on energy policy in this Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has proposed a final bill that would spur natural gas production.
But with time running out on the lame-duck Congress, and environmentalists and industry opposed for different reasons, the bill remains a long shot for passage.
The Promoting Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles Act, as originally proposed, would provide $4.5 billion for natural gas vehicles, in the form of rebates for purchasers and subsidies for manufacturers. It would also give $1.5 billion to research for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Mr. Reid was going to bring the bill to the floor earlier this month but withdrew it because the bill's co-sponsor, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, objected. A Hatch spokeswoman said the senator didn't like the fact that the bill was paid for with a dramatic increase -- from 8 to 21 cents a barrel -- in a tax on companies for the oil spill liability fund.
He's not the only one with a beef.
Environmental groups lined up against the bill in a letter to Mr. Reid last week, protesting that it was a giveaway to the natural gas industry -- which has exploded in Pennsylvania due to the Marcellus Shale reserves -- without addressing environmental concerns over gas extraction.
"It's crazy that we would consider investing money in natural gas infrastructure and expanding the demand for natural gas when there are not basic environmental and public health protections in place to protect Pennsylvanians and all Americans from the effects of drilling," said Adam Garber, organizer for PennEnvironment.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., is the lead sponsor of the FRAC Act, which would require drilling companies to disclose all the chemicals used in the process of hydraulic fracturing -- in which water, sand and chemicals are blasted into rock formations to free the gas -- and would bring the process under federal regulation. Mr. Casey said he is still working on getting disclosure language into law, as the FRAC Act hasn't advanced.
"It may not be this vehicle," Mr. Casey said of Mr. Reid's bill. "But there may be another way to do it in the near term."
While the gas industry has fought regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency, a much more onerous prospect than the current state regulatory structure, more and more companies are disclosing the chemical compounds in the fracking fluid. Gas industry officials have argued against disclosure in the past because the fracking formulas are proprietary, but now several companies are moving to strike a balance between revealing the ingredients and giving away the recipe.
First Published December 5, 2010 12:00 am
