GOP
offers language on hydrogen, Alaska pipeline
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Republicans offered a tentative
package of proposals for energy legislation
Monday to help build a natural gas pipeline
in Alaska, develop hydrogen as a fuel and
expand research into how to cut pollution
from burning coal.
The
draft language was agreed to by the Republican
heads of House and Senate delegations working
on the energy legislation and will be discussed
with Democratic staff members this week.
Democrats
said they were not involved in developing
the draft documents, but most of the issues
appeared to be uncontroversial.
The
proposal for developing hydrogen fuel, however,
was scaled back substantially from a plan
sought by Democrats and included in an earlier
energy bill. No longer would the legislation
establish a timetable for developing hydrogen
fuel systems, and spending would be a third
less than what some Democrats sought.
Still,
the more contentious issues such as whether
to drill for oil in an Arctic wildlife refuge
and various measures to address problems
with the nation's electricity system have
yet to be considered in any detail by the
conferees.
Even
the issues covered by Monday's draft papers
still could change.
''We
do not believe this to be final language
(on these issues). Rather it is a first
step toward productive negotiations,'' Sen.
Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Rep. Billy Tauzin,
R-La., said in a statement.
Domenici,
chairman of the Senate-House energy negotiations,
and Tauzin, who heads the House delegation,
have said they hope to get a final bill
by the end of the month. That appears highly
optimistic given the pace of the discussions
so far.
The
Republican draft language released Monday
includes:
--A
proposal to authorize construction of a
$20 billion pipeline to carry natural gas
from Alaska's North Slope to the lower 48
states. The language would require the pipeline
to take a southern route, largely through
Alaska.
--A
decision whether to provide loan guarantees
or other tax incentives for such a pipeline
will be taken up later.
--A
$2 billion program to develop clean coal
technology, concentrating heavily on development
of coal gasification to reduce emissions
from coal-burning power plants.
--Authorize
$3.4 billion a year, about a third more
than current spending, to help low-income
households pay for heating and cooling bills,
and a four-year, $400 million program, double
from earlier proposals, to help people buy
efficient appliances.
The
draft also recommends a $2.4 billion program
to develop hydrogen as a fuel, a less ambitious
program than the one already considered
by the Senate this year. It no longer provides
specific targets for hydrogen fuel demonstration
projects but encourages new research into
hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen distribution
systems. Senators were talking earlier about
a $3.7 billion hydrogen development plan.
Domenici
has said he wants to try to get most of
the issues worked out privately among staff
members, but he and Tauzin would make public
draft proposals as they become available.
He rejected complaints that Democrats were
being excluded from the discussions, saying
Republicans and Democrats would work out
final language.
Last
week, Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico,
ranking Democrat among Senate negotiators,
complained that Domenici's approach keeps
Democrats from adequately participating
in the initial drafting of the sections
of the bill.
''There
is no substitute for actually being involved
when key decisions are first made,'' he
wrote Domenici.
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