Dateline: 04/25/02

The U.S. Senate has approved 88-11 a version of the National Energy Policy Act differing in several areas from the version passed in the House, including not allowing oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a vital part of the Bush administration's plan for U.S. energy independence.

How Senate and House energy bills differ
Differences between the House-passed and Senate-passed versions of the bill will have to be resolved before the bill can be sent to President Bush. That job will fall to a House and Senate conference committee, which will have some tall conferencing to do, considering some of the differences that must be negotiated away. Some of these differences are:

• The House bill allows oil and gas drilling on parts of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The Senate bill bans it. President Bush, who considered drilling in ANWR a key to decreasing the nation's dependence on foreign oil, has not threatened to veto an energy bill without it.
  
  
• The Senate bill offers $14 billion in tax breaks and other incentives to U.S. energy businesses. The House bill offers $33 billion, with more of it going to producers of fossil fuel energy.
  
  
• The House bill offers subsidies to encourage development of oil and gas resources. The Senate bill subsidizes development of renewable fuels and energy conservation. 
  
  
• The House rejected an amendment that would increase the use of ethanol in gasoline and ban the use of the additive MTBE. The Senate bill approves both.
  
  
• The Senate bill sets higher energy efficiency standards for air conditioners than currently required. The House rejected the higher standards.
  
  
• The Senate bill offers tax credits to consumers who install solar-panels and take other steps to make their homes more energy efficient. The House bill does not.
  
  
• The Senate bill authorizes billions of dollars in loan guarantees to build a pipeline for transporting natural gas from Alaska to the lower 48 states. The House bill contains no such provision.

And how they are the same
There are some points on which the House and Senate agree:

• Both bills increase funding to help modernize the nuclear fuel industry and to encourage development of "clean coal" technology.
  
  
• Both bills offer tax incentives to consumers who buy energy efficient, hybrid gas-electric cars.
  
  
• Both bills provide funds to help pay heating and cooling bills of low-income families.
  
  
• After a lobbying blitz by automakers, both the House and Senate dropped amendments that would have imposed higher fuel economy standards for cars, light trucks and SUVs than now required. Neither bill now addresses automobile fuel economy.

ANWR drilling may be revived
While the Senate rejected it by a wider than expected 54-46 margin, allowing the production of billions of barrels of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge formed the foundation of the Bush administration's plan for reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil by increasing domestic production. 

As House and Senate conferees argue over differences in energy-related tax incentives, acres of ANWR drilled or not drilled, may end up as bargaining tokens.