US House panel chair plans broad energy package

OREANDA-NEWS. February 09, 2015. The US House of Representatives' top energy legislation writer plans next week to roll out his ideas for crafting the first, new comprehensive energy bill in eight years.

House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton (R-Michigan) will unveil his framework for a legislative package focusing on four key areas: modernizing the US' energy infrastructure; preparing a workforce for the 21st century; using energy as an arm of US diplomacy; and boosting efficiency and accountability.

"We have gone from bust to boom in energy," Upton said, with the US claiming to be the world's leading oil and gas producer. But Upton argued that energy policies stemming from former president Jimmy Carter's era "threaten our ability to reap the benefits."

On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman Lisa Murkowski is conferring with members of her committee, trying to find common ground for a legislative package covering infrastructure, supply, efficiency and federal accountability.

With Republicans in control of both houses of Congress, Upton can pursue a strategy he outlined last year that he called his "architecture of abundance."

That plan called for modernizing the infrastructure by easing siting of energy infrastructure and bringing "accountability" to pipeline permitting.

A key infrastructure priority for Republicans is TransCanada's proposed 830,000 b/d Keystone XL crude pipeline.

The House and Senate already have approved similar — albeit not identical — bills to authorize TransCanada to build the pipeline. The Senate added some fairly modest amendments to the measure the House had approved. The House as early as next week is expected to approve a bill incorporating the Senate's changes.

Obama has threatened to veto any Keystone XL bill that arrives on his desk. If Obama does veto that legislation, Republicans are expected to insert the Keystone XL language in their broader energy packages.

The US administration is conducting its own review of the nation's energy infrastructure needs, as part of its quadrennial energy review. Energy secretary Ernest Moniz said on 4 February he expects that report to be issued in a month or so.

Upton's plan last year also called for diversifying US electricity generation, in part by shielding power plants from US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. EPA is scheduled to finalize those rules this summer.

Upton's plan also envisioned speeding up air permitting for manufacturing projects and boosting energy efficiency. And it called for speeding up permitting for LNG exports as a way to use the US' energy muscle to help advance the nation's international priorities.

The House on 28 January easily approved a bill designed to expedite permitting for LNG exports.