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House Passes Refinery Bill After Seesaw
After a seesaw vote
that GOP leaders held open long past the allotted time, the House this
afternoon passed legislation to ease environmental reviews and take other steps
to spur construction of new or expanded refineries. The final tally was
212-210. GOP leaders held the
vote open until they succeeded in changing the votes of two of the 15 GOP
holdouts who had voted against the measure. The count until then was stuck at
210-212, with six members of each party not voting. Democrats chanted
“Shame! Shame! Shame!” after the gavel fell. Joe L. Barton,
R-Texas, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, last night stripped a
contentious change to the Clean Air Act from his refinery bill at the request
of House leadership and the White House. But even that was not enough to win
clear sailing for the controversial measure. (From
Congressional Quarterly 100705 midday report) House passes bill to boost refineries: The bill also would
limit to six the different blends of gasoline and diesel fuel that refiners
would be required to produce, reversing a trend of using so-called
"boutique" fuels to satisfy clean air demands. State officials
complained the provision could limit states' ability to implement federal clean
air requirements. "The bill
weakens state and federal environmental standards ... and gives a break to
wealthy oil companies while doing little or nothing to affect oil prices,"
complained Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., one of 13 Republicans who voted
against the measure. With prices
soaring, "oil companies now have all
the profits and incentives they need to build new refineries"
without government help, he maintained. Attempts to add requirements that
automakers increase vehicle fuel economy and a measure aimed at producing more
natural gas were thwarted by GOP leaders who strictly limited the ability of
lawmakers to amend the bill. Among the groups
trying to kill the bill were the National League of Cities, nine state attorneys general,
most environmental organizations and groups representing state officials in
charge of implementing federal clean air requirements. They said the bill would hinder their
ability to ensure clean and healthy air. The bill number is
H.R. 3893. Additional information can be found at thomas.loc.gov http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/10/07/national/w115837D67.DTL |
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