Old for New Energy

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s novel political strategy last week of denying Democrats what they wanted in an energy bill by giving them exactly what they proposed was … well, novel. What should be of interest to Maine, however, is what remains in the bill as it leaves conference with the House version and what may be added later through amendments.

With only a few days left before the August recess and having clogged the Senate schedule with judicial votes he knew would not overcome a Democratic filibuster, Dr. Frist no longer had time to assemble an energy bill from the GOP version and the hundreds of amendments yet to be heard. So instead last Thursday he offered the energy bill crafted last year when Democrats held the majority and which passed overwhelmingly, only to die in conference, and he offered it as a substitute.

It passed again last week, overwhelmingly, pleasing both Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota (“We’d much rather go into conference with a Democratic vehicle than what was going to pass at the end of this debate as the Republican bill.”) and GOP Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (“The reason I’m happy is because I’ll be rewriting that bill.”).

The real winner? President Bush, who said he wanted an energy bill out of the Senate – he didn’t say which one – and whose 2004 election opponents lost an issue on which to berate him, although Sen. Joseph Lieberman secured six hours of debate time this fall to consider his related climate-change legislation.

Last year’s version is better than the one that was being considered this year. For instance, the provision for drilling in the outer continental shelf, which could harm Georges Bank, is not in the ’02 bill, but a required increased in the use of renewable energy is. Sen. Susan Collins last year ensured this provision would directly benefit the Maine renewable-energy industry, opening the possibility for it to expand as an export business for Maine. Sen. Collins was also a sponsor of a climate-change bill that was passed last year, including an amendment for the study of abrupt climate change. The amendment includes more than $60 million for this research, at which the University of Maine, not coincidentally, excels.

There are other valuable provisions in the bill, including tax credits for increasing the efficient use of electricity and conservation measures. But few if any of these measures are in the House version, and it is clearly the intent of the GOP conference members to remove them as the versions are reconciled. Democrats are pledging to filibuster if the bill emerges looking like the ’03 version that was dropped, but that will be difficult for them because the bill surely will contain the bipartisan Heartland favorite, ethanol subsidies.

As has become commonplace in a closely divided Senate, Maine’s moderate senators could be crucial to the outcome of the legislation. They’ll need to join colleagues in arguing that the provisions for increased energy efficiency, for taking steps to address climate change and for renewable energy are an essential part of the nation’s strategic energy plan. They’ll need to argue that what was strongly passed last year by both parties is a good beginning for a sensible energy plan.