By Debra DeHaney-Howard
April 25, 2005

After two days of debate and over 30 amendments, the House passed energy legislation April 21 by a 249 to 183 vote. The Energy Policy Act of 2005, H.R. 6, was passed after the House voted down an amendment offered by Representative Lois Capps- (CA) to remove a provision in the bill granting liability protection to manufacturers of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) — a known water pollutant.

Capps introduced her amendment under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, a reform law that the mayors and other local government officials worked hard to put into law so Congress would stop enacting provisions like the MTBE one. In her floor statement, Capps cited the April 19 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that determined the MTBE provision in H.R. 6 impose unfunded mandates on cities and local governments due to this waiver of industry liability for MTBE cleanups of local drinking water supplies.

MTBE, known to help improve air quality, has been found to contaminate drinking water supplies, causing water to be foul-tasting and renders it undrinkable. The cost to clean up MTBE contamination nationwide is estimated to be at least $29 billion. At least 500 public drinking water wells and 45,000 private wells across the nation are contaminated in addition to the approximately 140, 000 underground storage tanks still leaking gasoline containing the additive. The liability waiver in H.R. 6 is the largest unfunded mandate passed down from Congress to local taxpayers in recent years.

The House bill also includes $8 billion in tax breaks and incentives to energy producers; opens the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling; increases the authorization for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program from $3.4 billion to $5.1 billion to account for increased demand and high energy prices, expands daylight'saving time by two months; provides $3 billion over 10 years to encourage production of hybrid and advanced diesel vehicles; expands the number of project grants from 15 to 30 for the Energy Department's Clean Cities program; and longer compliance time frames for local areas in non-attainment of federal air quality standard for ozones.

The House voted down by a vote of 182-248 an amendment offered by Representative Hilda Solis (CA) to remove a provision that gives the U. S. Energy Department the authority to construct new refineries and expand existing ones in communities with high unemployment. They also voted down an amendment offered by Representative Michaels N. Castle (DE) to strike language from the bill that gives the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) final authority over the siting of liquefied natural gas terminals. The amendment was defeated 194-237. Other amendments defeated include Representative Ed Markey's amendment to raise the national fuel economy standards to 33 miles per gallon by year 2015; defeated 254-177.

The Senate has yet to complete action on its own comprehensive energy bill. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Pete Domenici (NM) has indicated that the committee will mark up its energy bill in late May.