Energy and water-related provisions aren't holding up an agreement on a massive fiscal 2012 spending package, a top Senate appropriator said this afternoon, but the timing of the legislation's rollout remains uncertain.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who leads the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that directs spending for the Energy Department, Army Corps of Engineers and Interior Department water programs, told reporters this afternoon that the portions of the omnibus appropriations package dealing with DOE and water programs were virtually settled.

"Energy and water I think is OK with maybe one exception that we're waiting to hear back from the House," she said. "I mean, we'll get a bill."

At issue is an ongoing negotiation between House Republicans and Senate Democrats about a massive spending package that sets 2012 budgets for DOE, the Army Corps, U.S. EPA, Interior and other agencies. Public release of the spending language was initially expected last night, but timing of that rollout remains uncertain today as party leaders are scrambling to settle a GOP bid to link the controversial Keystone XL pipeline to a payroll tax extension measure up for vote tonight (see related story).

Feinstein and other Senate Democrats said they did not expect to see a final version of the omnibus filed today. But Republicans and House appropriators were more optimistic.

"The big four in the Senate and House have agreed on a bill. The White House would like to change some things, but the conferees have agreed," Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said this afternoon.

House Democrats indicated they, too, had agreed to a compromise.

"This is a reasonable compromise," said Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), ranking member of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee. "It's a much better bill than I'd anticipated. When the House majority is being fair and reasonable, we ought to seize the opportunity to get that bill enacted."

Unresolved issues

But unresolved issues remain, including an outstanding request from DOE for upward of $120 million to conduct research at a uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio, Feinstein said.

"The USEC issue is not settled. That was the one I was referring to," she said.

House lawmakers have not yet determined whether to grant DOE's funding request to test uranium enrichment technology using gas centrifuges at U.S. Enrichment Corp.'s (USEC) plant in Ohio, she said.

House Republicans from Ohio have been quick to tout the benefits of USEC's project, namely job creation and the ability to generate fuel for nuclear power plants and military operations. DOE crafted a proposal to conduct a research pilot program at the plant in October but has remained quiet on the company's request for a $2 billion federal loan for the facility (E&E Daily, Oct. 27).

But Feinstein stopped short of commenting on whether the much thornier nuclear waste storage issue of Yucca Mountain has been addressed. Feinstein would not say whether lawmakers had come to an agreement on whether to include millions of dollars for the nuclear waste repository in Nevada that has been abandoned by the Obama administration. Although an earlier Senate appropriations bill included no money for the waste dump, the House-passed appropriations measure included $45 million for it.

"I don't think I can answer that right now," she said, referring to the project. "I'm talking too much, and I'm going to get myself into big trouble."

Feinstein said she was optimistic that a separate controversial GOP-backed energy rider dealing with light bulb efficiency standards would not be included in the final package. The language, which was in a spending bill the House passed this summer, would prevent DOE from implementing the standards set to start taking effect on Jan. 1.

"Negating efficiency standards for new light bulbs in the future -- that's out. Well, that's our position," she said. "I think it's out."

But the issue is not completely resolved. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the light bulb issue remains one of the outstanding issues, listing a handful of others that remain unresolved.

"We have some major issues to be resolved, some foreign policy issues, including Cuba; some environment issues, including one of the important issues dealing with coal, with light bulbs and a number of other issues that are extremely important and we have to work out, including Wall Street reform," Reid told reporters this afternoon. "But we're close, and there's probably six, seven issues that need to be resolved."

Riders in, riders out

The fate of other riders and cuts is more certain. For one, Feinstein said funding for DOE's loan guarantee program, which has drawn controversy in recent months amid a scandal over a hefty loan guarantee to the now-bankrupt solar firm Solyndra, has been cut.

"We cut the loan guarantee program that Solyndra was part of. It's time for a timeout to get that thing put together," she said. "So the stimulus money that was left is gone. We took it out."

A GOP amendment to block Obama administration efforts to tighten Clean Water Act regulation is also out, according to Feinstein.

Sens. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) were co-sponsors of the measure, which Barrasso has said enjoys broad support.

The policy rider has popped up repeatedly in congressional battles this year over major spending bills, and in its various forms, aims to block EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers from spending any money to enforce the administration's Clean Water Act regulatory efforts.

Those include recently proposed "guidance" and an expected rulemaking that would re-establish water pollution protections rolled back in two muddled Supreme Court decisions and by the George W. Bush-era EPA.

Feinstein also said she believed the Army Corps would be provided more money -- beyond the $1 billion included in the committee-passed appropriations bill -- to rebuild levees and other water infrastructure damaged in this year's epic Missouri and Mississippi river floods.

"I think we've increased it," Feinstein said of the corps' flood-recovery funding.

Interior riders

Moran said he believed the spending measure may include a proposal from Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) to clarify the National Park Service's jurisdiction over waterways in an Alaskan national preserve.

The measure, which Young successfully attached to an earlier House appropriations bill, aims to restrict NPS rangers from conducting boat safety inspections in Alaska's Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. The proposal stems from an incident more than a year ago when rangers drew guns and handcuffs to force a boater to submit to a safety check. The agency was criticized for using excessive force.

Moran said another rider may involve a one-year timeout on enforcing environmental assessments for Forest Service roads. But he said none of the provisions appeared "egregious."

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), whose proposal to create wilderness and require new timber harvests in his state was included in the Senate's draft Interior-EPA bill, said he has not seen the current proposal and does not know if his bill was included.

"It is very much a jump ball," Tester said. "We are working very hard, every avenue we can, but it really does compound it when you've got folks in the House opposing things for political reasons."

The fate of Tester's "Forest Jobs and Recreation Act" could affect his 2012 Senate race with Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.).

Moran said lawmakers had also yanked a provision that would block an EPA appeals board from reviewing drilling proposals in Arctic waters, a provision that aimed to fast-track Royal Dutch Shell PLC's proposal to drill off the Alaska coast.

Reporters Hannah Northey, Paul Quinlan, Phil Taylor and Elana Schor contributed.