The Senate likely will begin debating legislation toward the end of the week to set 2012 funding levels for the Department of Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers and water programs at the Interior Department.

The "minibus" package would combine the Energy-Water, Financial Services and State-Foreign Operations 2012 spending bills already passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The measure is expected to mirror funding levels the Senate subpanel approved in September, including $31.625 billion in discretionary spending for DOE, Interior and the Army Corps, but no funding for the highly controversial nuclear repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Approved in a 29-1 vote, the bill would spend $57 million less than was enacted in 2011 and $4.9 billion less than what President Obama requested.

The Senate's passage of two bills in the "minibus" that the House has not yet approved -- Financial Services and State-Foreign Operations -- would strengthen the Senate's position in negotiations with the House on a final package.

But sources said it is possible the legislation could be pushed into next week, and one Senate aide said the measure won't likely be finished until the following week because amendments and other procedures will be filed.

Sources closely watching the process say the bill could provide the stage for a showdown over controversial issues, including the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and how the costs of new transmission lines are dispersed among ratepayers.

On the Yucca front, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) has been discussing a possible amendment with other lawmakers to include funding for the repository in Nye County, Nev. That language could mirror a House-passed energy and water funding bill that provided $45 million for the repository. House Republicans have said the repository should be built since the government spent billions of dollars over decades to investigate the site under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (Greenwire, Feb. 24).

The Obama administration has abandoned the Yucca Mountain plan, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has moved to close down its review of the DOE application to construct the site. Also, Kirk's amendments could meet stiff opposition in the Senate from Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), a vocal opponent of the project who has vowed to keep the repository shut.

Sources in the electric industry say Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) may be considering an amendment dealing with the costs and benefits associated with new transmission lines and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's new transmission planning and cost allocation rule, also known as Order 1000.

In February, he introduced legislation to amend federal law to ensure rates and charges for electricity were proportionate to benefits such as reliability and economic perks (Greenwire, Aug. 4).

Environmentalists say they are also on the lookout for a raft of anti-environmental measures to be presented as amendments to the energy-water bill. One GOP amendment likely to surface -- as it has in debates on several spending bills this year already -- would block the Army Corps from spending money to enforce the Obama administration policies that would expand federal pollution protections under the Clean Water Act to new streams and wetlands.

Amendments proposed in the Senate Appropriations Committee in September but withdrawn for later consideration would have set aside more money to repair levees damaged in this year's record floods.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, gave voice to the frustrations of many environmentalists when she said it was "just plain wrong" that water infrastructure construction money continues to be cut from year to year. She also called it "so short-sighted" that no new water projects would be started by the Army Corps (E&E Daily, Sept. 8).

Earlier this month, the Senate approved a package of three spending bills setting 2012 funding levels for the Agriculture and Transportation departments and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Greenwire, Nov. 1).

A House-Senate conference is expected to pass a conference report on that legislation during the week of Nov. 14, said George Behan, a spokesman for senior Democratic appropriator Norm Dicks of Washington.