Energy/Environment

The House on Wednesday evening disposed of 12 amendments to an energy bill that would encourage oil shale development, offshore drilling, and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and along the way accepted just one Democratic amendment.

That amendment, from Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), would let oil and gas revenues generated from offshore drilling in the Gulf to be used for wetlands conservation, coastal restoration and other related projects. Members accepted that proposal by voice vote.

House Democrats on Wednesday said Republicans are over-estimating the extent to which new U.S. energy development can help pay for federal highway spending, in particular because shale oil development is still years away.

“What they do is, they bring out proposals here that try to build real highways with fake oil revenues that are never going to materialize,” Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said during debate on the Republican energy bill, H.R. 3408.

“So rather than working here in the real world, where the real transportation needs of our country are dealt with real revenues that are coming in, they talk about oil shale, which Shell [Oil Co.] says is at least another 10 years away.”

The House on Wednesday afternoon approved a rule allowing members to consider a three-part energy and transportation bill, over the objections of all Democrats and several Republicans who opposed what they saw as a more convoluted process than normal for considering legislation.

Members approved the rule by a 235-186 vote that was mostly along party lines.

The House meets at 10 a.m. for speeches, and then at noon to start work on three bills that used to be one: a transportation authorization bill, a bill requiring federal workers to contribute more to their retirement, and a bill encouraging more oil shale production.

House Republicans decided to split the $260 billion transportation bill into three parts after it became clear that the votes weren't there when these provisions were packaged together.

Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) on Monday said Congress should pay for the costs of a controversial transportation bill with more tax revenue from oil and gas companies.

"The only way to make progress in solving our current fiscal mess is not to create a new round of giveaways and favors to the oil industry," Capps said on the House floor. "It would be better to start cutting some of the unnecessary tax breaks that the oil-and-gas industry now receives, and use that money to pay for the transportation bill. And that's because they're unnecessary.

Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) on Wednesday introduced legislation that would offer a $1 billion prize to the first U.S.-incorporated auto company that can sell 60,000 gasoline-powered cars that get 100 miles per gallon.

The Excellence in Energy Efficiency Act, H.R. 3872, is the Republican answer to the Democrats’ push for the development of gas-electric or all-electric cars. The flat prize is also a departure from current government incentives to buy green vehicles, which some estimate could cost the government several billion dollars.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas), whose congressional district would be the termination point of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, introduced legislation Tuesday that would allow Congress to approve the Keystone permit.

"Congress cannot sit idly by and watch Americans suffer as a result of this reckless decision motivated by politics," Poe said of the Obama administration's decision not to approve the permit earlier this month. "It's time to create jobs, bring energy to the United States and make Middle Eastern politics irrelevant to our national security."

The House next week is expected to take up legislation that would give the secretary of the Interior permanent authority to allow states to issue electronic "duck stamps."

Duck stamps, or federal migratory bird hunting and conservation stamps, were first authorized in 1934. Originally federal hunting licenses, they now help fund conservation efforts, and can serve as entrance passes for National Wildlife refuges and even as collectors items.

Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) on Thursday called on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to strictly implement a new Iran sanctions law in a way that reduces the Middle Eastern nation’s oil sales as much as possible.

The Senate in December approved an amendment to the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act offered by Menendez and Kirk that requires sanctions on financial institutions that do business with Iran’s central bank.

Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, want to set up a "Reasonable Profits Board" to control gas profits.