Senate OKs energy update
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation that touches nearly every aspect of the nation’s energy sector, with the aim of bringing federal policy up to date with tectonic shifts underway in the energy industry .
Despite the boom in domestic oil and natural gas production and advancements in wind and solar energy technology, federal rules and programs had not undergone a significant overhaul in close to a decade.
Among a lengthy suite of changes, the bill would put a 45-day limit on the U.S. Department of Energy in deciding whether to approve export terminals for U.S. natural gas to be shipped abroad. It would remove some of the red tape in permitting pipelines on federal lands and increase protection against cyber attacks on the power grid.
It would put $50 million a year into research on industrial-scale batteries that would store large amounts of electricity, thus allowing the greater use of intermittent sources like wind turbines and solar panels.
The bill largely avoided controversial issues such as limits on carbon emis-
sion, which are blamed for accelerating global climate change, and President Barack Obama’s moratorium on new coal mines on federal lands, and passed 8512. TheHouse passed similar legislation in December, meaning the two chambers would likely establish a conference committee to iron out the differences.
With much common ground between the bills and their party controlling both houses, Republican leaders expressed confidence that a deal could be made. But with the November election approaching, Congress will be pressed to agree on compromise legislation before the summer break begins in mid-July.
“We can work through issues,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, who co-sponsored the bill. “The calendar is a little more challenging.”
Of the two Texas senators, both Republicans, John Cornyn voted for the bill while Ted Cruz did not vote.
The delay in permitting for oil and gas projects has long been a source of tension between the Obama administration and the oil and gas sector.
Some LNG export projects have waited more than six months for a ruling from the Department of Energy, said Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas.
“Hopefully this will speed along the time lines,” he said. “The market is down right now but long-term forecasts are you’re going to see the global demand for LNG come back.”
The legislation will also increase energy efficiency standards on federal buildings and create incentives for renewable energy sources, including geothermal and hydropower. Beyond energy, the legislation permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is used to buy lands and waterways across the country for conservation, and the Historic Preservation Fund, money from which goes to preserving historic places and items, as well as providing funding for a maintenance backlog at national parks.
Still, some environmentalists warned speeding up permitting on fossil fuel projects would come at the expense of environmental safeguards. “This energy bill is still a mixed bag,” Sara Chieffo, League of Conservation Voters vice president for government affairs, said in a statement.
In oil-rich states like Texas, the Obama administration’s policy on trying to rein in greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels while promoting renewable energy has met with resistance.
Some Republicans, including Cornyn, the Senate Majority whip, have criticized the Obama administration for not being more focused on the development of the country’s oil and gas resources.
But the administration has won some allies in Texas. In December it lifted a decades-old export ban on oil, and U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has offered his tentative support to the Senate energy bill.
“With the lifting of the exporting ban and this expedited approval of LNG, I think it will be a plus,” Cornyn said in a conference call with reporters Thursday.