1. OIL AND GAS: Near-unanimous Senate approves SPR halt (Greenwire, 05/13/2008)

Josh Voorhees, Greenwire reporter

The Senate today voted 97-1 in favor of temporarily suspending oil deliveries to the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) was the only senator to oppose the amendment to a flood insurance bill. The overall measure was approved shortly thereafter.

The House is expected to vote later today on H.R. 6022, a stand-alone bill to suspend filling the SPR.

The legislation in both chambers would prevent the Energy Department from adding 70,000 barrels of oil each day to the reserve. The suspension would continue until the end of 2008 or until the price of oil falls below $75 a barrel.

The White House has consistently opposed such a halt to SPR additions. Press Secretary Dana Perino said yesterday that the president remains in favor of an even larger reserve and believes that a suspension would not have a noticeable impact on oil or gas prices.

Supporters of the SPR suspension have granted that it will likely only have a modest effect on soaring oil and gas prices, but say it is a first step toward easing the financial burden of American drivers.

It is unclear if the president would attempt to veto such a measure, risking a possible override by a large, bipartisan group of lawmakers.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) told reporters yesterday that while he was unaware of the administration's plans, it would be difficult for Bush to come down against a plan that has the support of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). The measure is also supported by Democratic White House hopefuls Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.).

The suspension is a rare overlap between two vastly different energy policies being championed by the two parties. The GOP has pushed a supply-side plan that includes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the outer continental shelf, as well as developing coal-to-liquids and ending recent restrictions on oil shale.

Meanwhile, Democrats are in favor of legislation that would slow speculation in the oil futures market, repeal oil industry tax breaks and institute a "windfall profits" tax on oil companies' earnings that are not reinvested in alternative energy research and development.

Earlier today, the Senate rejected, 42-56, a GOP energy amendment to the flood insurance bill that would have increased domestic drilling.

Senators from both sides of the aisle used this morning's debate to push their own plans while attacking the other party's policy proposals.

Assistant Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said untapped domestic oil reserves are not large enough to have an effect on a global market. "We cannot drill our way out of this issue," he said. "We can't drill our way to lower prices."

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and other Republican senators argued that if suspending the SPR would curb oil prices, then opening up additional domestic supply would provide even more relief. "If you're worried about 70,000 barrels staying off the market, then you should be outraged that one million barrels of oil from ANWR are kept off the market," Enzi said.

The Democratic energy proposal is expected to be brought up for a vote in the "coming weeks," an aide to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said last week.

That measure also faces high hurdles. Efforts to raise taxes on oil companies have failed amid GOP filibusters over the past year, and also face White House veto threats. Opponents say the tax measures would deter investment in domestic oil and gas production.

Senior reporter Ben Geman contributed to this report.

Back to Public index page