Economic problems brought about by high natural gas prices have Senate energy lawmakers optimistic about passing an energy bill this year. But this early-session optimism has been tempered by worry that a House-Senate deal on energy will break down because of continued differences over product liability protection for fuel oxygenate producers.
Several senators close to the process yesterday said it is clear the MTBE provisions that stalled energy legislation in the last Congress could do the same this year, and they want the issue put to rest quickly, or abandoned altogether, before they get too far into the legislative process. “DeLay will have to back off,” Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) said bluntly yesterday, referring to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), a prime backer of the energy bill’s MTBE protection clause who last year refused to remove the language from the bill.
Liability protection for producers of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) was the primary reason why the energy bill, then known as H.R. 6, stalled in the Senate in November 2003 and kept Congress from passing any comprehensive energy legislation last year. The House added the provision to H.R. 6, after which a number of senators objected and blocked a cloture vote that required 60 votes to move energy forward.
Those opposing the MTBE language included key New England Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, and Judd Gregg and John Sununu of New Hampshire.
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