EEE会議（難航する米国の新エネルギー法案審議）..............................................................031021


米国の新エネルギー法案は、ブッシュ政権のエネルギー政策を裏付けるもの
としてその早期成立が期待されておりましたところ、結局上下両院の意見調整
が予想以上に難航しており、来年の大統領選挙戦も絡んで、今会期中の成立は
無理という観測も出始めております。原子力推進や積極的なエネルギー政策で
知られるPete Domenici上院議員（共和党、ニューメキシコ州選出）が、両院合同
委員会の委員長として妥協案の作成を任されていますが、どうも彼の強引なやり
方が民主党を中心とする環境保護重視（温暖化ガス規制強化）グループの反発を
強めているためと見られます。このままでは折角のエネルギー法案も廃案になり
かねない雲行きです。　詳細はNew York Timesの記事（10/20)でどうぞ。
--KK

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Snags Delay Final Version of Energy Bill
By CARL HULSE

Published: October 20, 2003


WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 　 Republicans trying to finish the first major energy
legislation in a decade continued to hit obstacles in weekend talks and
postponed a meeting scheduled for Monday afternoon that would have allowed a
House-Senate negotiating committee to approve the measure.

House Republicans had hoped to bring the bill to the floor as early as
Tuesday. But that timetable was in jeopardy after House and Senate
Republicans writing the measure were unable to make public a final proposal
by Sunday evening. Senate Democrats have requested at least 24 hours to
review the measure before a final meeting of the conference committee.

Congressional officials said negotiators had resolved the chief policy
issues like new standards for the electric utility industry, initiatives to
spur oil and gas production and a plan to increase ethanol in gasoline. But
lawmakers had not agreed on the amount and type of tax incentives, issues
that House and Senate tax writers negotiate.

Democrats, who say that for the most part they have been cut out of the
negotiations, called on Republicans to make public the agreements that have
been reached so they could begin to digest the proposal.

But Congressional aides said Republicans were reluctant to do that without a
completed agreement because it could provide opponents more opportunity to
attack the measure while giving lawmakers time to push for adding proposals.

Meanwhile, new problems surfaced. A bipartisan group of 29 senators wrote to
the conference committee to reinforce their support for ethanol provisions
passed by the Senate. Environmental groups raised concern over a last-minute
plan to relax some air-pollution requirements. And in a proposal covering
producers of a gasoline additive blamed for contaminating groundwater, an
agreement giving them immunity retroactive to Oct. 1 in product liability
cases came under scrutiny because of lawsuits in the last few weeks.

"It is another reason to vote against it," said Senator Judd Gregg,
Republican of New Hampshire, a state where lawsuits have been recently
filed.

Industry officials said they did not believe the suits would be affected.