ANWR omitted from energy bill

House energy committee leaders agreed to leave out language that allows drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in hopes of attracting more Democratic support for a comprehensive energy bill.

Rep. Joe L. Barton, Texas Republican and head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, yesterday said the bill likely will include upgrades to the nation's electricity grids, incentives for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and exemptions from some class-action lawsuits for the producers of the fuel additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).

Efforts to pass an energy package have been stymied in the past two years by Senate Democrats and a few Republicans, who say opening the refuge is too risky and would be detrimental to Alaska's ecosystem. Opponents also say that shielding MTBE manufacturers would be unfair.

Mr. Barton said that separating ANWR drilling would make it easier for the Senate to pass the energy bill and give both sides more time to come to an agreement.

He did not discount White House backing of the plan. "I think ANWR will be something the president signs into law this year," he said.

Rep. Ralph M. Hall, a Texas Republican who recently left the Democratic Party, hopes to propose a stand-alone ANWR bill next week.

"I would like to introduce a bill where you weren't relegated to 1,500 to 2,000 acres to drill, but that would be a tough bill for a lot of the greenies to take on," Mr. Hall said of environmentalists. "It makes no sense that we have 20 million acres up there and yet we are limited to this small amount of land."

Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the ranking Democrat on the energy committee, approved of omitting ANWR but wants MTBE language out of the main energy bill as well.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Texas Republican, has insisted on compensating producers of the fuel additive who have been hammered with lawsuits. The product has been called unsafe because of its potential to contaminate drinking water when it is not properly stored.

Mr. Barton intends to stand by Mr. DeLay on the issue.

"I will never compromise on a principle. MTBE works, it is the cheapest way to produce cleaner fuel emissions and it is not a defective product," Mr. Barton said. "We're not trying to protect MTBE producers against any and all lawsuits, but we will protect them against suits that deem MTBE is at its base a defective product."

Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat and member of the energy panel, said the MTBE proposal will raise the same objections as it did last year and "shows a propensity to appease special interests."

Another debate is brewing over granting royalty relief to companies to create natural gas wells in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico using deep and ultra-deep drilling technology.

Democrats and Republicans of the Florida delegation and from the West Coast states want to keep big rigs far from the coastlines and are expected to aggressively oppose such a proposal.

Mr. Hall dismissed drilling opponents' arguments as "Santa Barbara rhetoric."

He said the $3.1 billion that he wants to add to the main energy package is a bipartisan research and development proposal.

But Sen. Mel Martinez, Florida Republican and a member of the energy committee, said, "Gulf Coast drilling is absolutely a non-starter for me, and the more aggressive they are about Gulf drilling, the more difficult it is for me to support ANWR."

Mr. Wyden said he would like to see the deep-drilling proposal before passing judgment.

Mr. Barton and Mr. Hall said they will work to reach an agreement with Democratic committee members, and most notably its ranking member, Rep. John D. Dingell of Michigan.

"We are not trying to railroad him and his members. We want to work with them," Mr. Hall said.

"If we get no Democrats, then we will talk to the White House and figure out what we should have in the bill, go to the floor and pass it," Mr. Barton said. "We have the votes to do that, but I do think we should have a bipartisan bill. The more bipartisanship, the better chance it has to withstand the Senate."

Mr. Barton said he hopes the committee will have a comprehensive energy plan sometime after Easter.