Selected Environmental Provisions in the Energy Bill (H.R. 6/S. 2095)

Publication Date: February 2004

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Energy; Environment

Type:

Abstract:

On November 18, 2003, the House passed the conference report accompanying the omnibus energy bill, H.R. 6 (H.Rept. 108-375). However, the Senate subsequently failed to invoke cloture and limit debate on the bill. On February 12, 2004, Senate leaders introduced a scaled-down energy policy bill, S. 2095, intended to offset the overall cost and some of the controversies of H.R. 6. Both H.R. 6 and the modified Senate bill contain various provisions that could affect environmental quality, either directly or indirectly. S. 2095 omits one of the most controversial of these provisions in H.R. 6 (providing a safe harbor for MTBE and renewable fuels) and modifies some of that bill's incentives.

This report provides a short discussion of selected environmental provisions involving limits on the use of MTBE; a renewable fuel mandate for gasoline; stricter regulation of underground storage tanks; Clean Water Act requirements for oil and gas exploration; incentives and R&D funding for alternative fuels and vehicles; energy efficiency and conservation incentives; hydroelectric relicensing; ozone compliance deadlines; use of mining wastes; and hydraulic fracturing. This report will be updated as warranted.