Summary of Amendments Submitted to the Rules Committee on
H.R. 6 - THE ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2003
April 9, 2003 (2:29p.m.)
Barrett #43 Division A, title IV. Requires the Secretary of Energy to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of developing commercial nuclear energy production facilities at existing Department of Energy sites.
Berkley #67 Division A. Requires the General Accounting Office to conduct a study to provide accurate and real costs of indemnifying those who would be harmed by a potential nuclear plant accident or attack. (LATE)
Berkley #71 Division A. Establishes a program to make loan guarantees for qualifying businesses investing in renewable energy solutions. (LATE)
Blumenauer #53 Division D. Extends the Transportation Fringe Benefit to commuters who carpool, bicycle, or use car-sharing and equalize the transit benefit with the current level offered to qualified parking plans. Allows up to $50 per month for carpoolers, bicyclists, or those using car-sharing to commute to work. Increases the benefit available to transit commuters to $190 per month, the same amount as qualified parking plans.
Blumenauer #54 Division A. Establishes within the Department of Transportation a Conserve by Bicycling pilot program. Instructs the Secretary of Transportation to report to Congress on the results of the pilot program within two years of implementation.
Boucher #6 Division A. Strikes the provision of the bill related to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) transmission siting authority on private lands and would thereby leave decisions regarding the location of new transmission facilities with individual states.
Boucher #7 Division A. Strikes the provision of the bill related to the Department of Energy (DOE) transmission siting authority on federal lands and would thereby leave the decisions regarding the location of new transmission facilities with the federal entities responsible for managing such lands (e.g. the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, etc.).
Boehlert/Markey #37 Division A. Requires the Department of Transportation to promulgate rules to ensure that the total amount of oil cars and light trucks will consume in the year 2010 will be 5% less than the total amount they would otherwise consume if the average fuel economy standards were to remain at 2004 levels.
Brown #1 Division A. Adds a new section authorizing a Gasoline Availability Stabilization (GAS) Reserve program modeled on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and administered by DoE. Requires establishment of 3 GAS Reserves within 2 years of enactment: 1 in California, 1 in the Midwest, and 1 in the Northeast. Allows the Secretary to create 2 additional GAS Reserves anywhere in the country, at any time during the program's 6-year authorization. Authorizes emergency sales from a GAS Reserve only in response to a physical disruption (like a refinery fire or a pipeline outage) in the supply of gasoline to a State, and then only when the State's Governor requests assistance and the Secretary concurs, based in part on consideration of the effect of GAS Reserve sales on the region's gas market. Authorizes maintenance transactions with safeguards to prevent price inflation and ensure product freshness. Authorizes such sums to build and run the GAS Reserve.
Capps #23 Division A. Adds four-year national phase-out of gasoline MTBE.
Capps/Miller(FL)/Davis(FL) #24 Division C. Strikes section 30220 relating to protections for sensitive coastal areas.
Capps #25 Division A. Strikes section 12401 relating to appeals for LNG siting decisions, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the National Environmental Protection Act.
Capito/Ney #19 Division D. Strikes section 42011 of Division D, relating to the prepayment of premium liability for coal industry health benefits.
Carson #76 Divison A. Strikes the "Indiana Amendment" form the Uniform Time Act of 1966. (LATE)
Costello/Calvert #8 Division B. Terminates the DOE’s authority to regulate itself with regard to nuclear and worker safety at the Department’s non-military energy laboratories within two years of enactment. Transfers regulatory authority to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). It is estimated that enacting the external regulation at the labs would save DOE up to $41 million annually.
Davis (VA)/Waxman #60 Division A. Requires that a small percentage of the energy used to power federal facilities come from renewable energy and fuel cells. Beginning in 2005, federal agencies would be required to obtain from these sources 1.5% of the energy used across their facilities, gradually rising to 7% in 2012 and beyond. Agencies could meet these requirements either by generating energy on-site or by purchasing renewable electricity generated off-site. Agencies would receive extra credit for on-site renewable energy generation that also contributes to national security. Allows the Secretary of Energy to waive the requirements if the agency is taking all practicable steps and the requirements would pose an unacceptable burden. Permits federal agencies to count acquisitions of future technology vehicles, such as fuel efficient hybrid-electric or fuel cell vehicles, against alternative fuel vehicle acquisition targets.
Davis (VA)/Waxman #61 Division A. Clarifies that reports relating to federal procurement policy and federal contracting policy should be submitted to all relevant Congressional committees, including the Government Reform Committee of the House and Governmental Affairs Committee of the Senate. Adds a study of the energy conservation implications of the widespread adoption of telecommuting by federal employees in the United States. Adds a study to consider the merits of establishing performance measures to guide the reduction of petroleum consumption by federal fleets.
DeFazio #11 Division A. Current law provides that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve may be drawn down in the event of a “severe energy supply disruption,” which results in “a major adverse impact on the national economy.” The DeFazio amendment would add “or on a State or regional economy,” after “national economy.”
DeFazio #12 Division A. Adds “anticompetitive conduct” by foreign countries, or producers, refiners, or marketers of petroleum products, to the list of circumstances under which the Strategic Petroleum Reserve may be drawn down.
DeFazio #13 Division A. Strikes the section of H.R. 6 that repeals Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA). PUHCA’s restrictions on ownership of utilities, the diversification of business operations, accounting, and mergers, among other provisions, are critical to protecting consumers from the business decisions of energy conglomerates.
DeFazio #14 Division A. Strikes the section of H.R. 6 directing FERC to establish so-called “incentive-based” rates for building transmission.
DeFazio #15 Division A. Establishes an Office of Consumer Advocacy at the Department of Justice to protect the interests of residential and small business users of electricity and natural gas in proceedings before FERC and other federal entities.
DeFazio #16 Division A. Sets benchmarks for the commencement of regional transmission organizations (RTOs) on FERC findings that such RTOs would result in net benefits to consumers in each affected state and minimize cost shifts among consumers. Also requires that RTOs have adequate transmission capacity and no chronic congestion prior to start-up, effective market monitoring, and that existing load service obligations are protected, among other criteria.
DeFazio #17 Division A. Prohibits market-based rates from being considered “just and reasonable” under the Federal Power Act if the rate raises above the cost-based rate that would otherwise apply.
DeGette #22 Division A. Holds the legislative branch to the same acquisition requirements as all other federal agencies regarding energy-using products, systems, or designs that meet or exceed the energy efficiency standards established by the Energy Star program of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.
Dingell #18 Division A. Substitute Amendment on Electricity. Provides FERC broad anti-fraud authority, for both electricity and natural gas markets. Establishes audit trail requirements to improve FERC’s ability to conduct investigations and take enforcement actions. Provides for greater transparency, by requiring reporting of information about transactions or quotations involving sales or transmissions of electricity or gas. Increases penalties for civil and criminal offenses to levels in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Requires FERC to issue rules to prevent affiliate abuse, authorizes FERC to refund electricity overcharges back to the date they commenced, and requires FERC to reform its policy on “market-based” electricity rates. Directs SEC to review PUHCA exemptions.
Dingell/Boehlert #30 Division A. Substitute amendment for the hydroelectric re-licensing title of the bill, which is identical to the version that passed the House last year. Introduces flexibility into the licensing and re-licensing of hydroelectric facilities by allowing any party to a licensing proceeding to propose alternatives to the resource and fishway prescriptions made by the resource agencies. The Secretary must accept the alternative, so long as he or she determines it provides the same level of protection for resources, fish, and wildlife and either costs less to implement or would result in more efficient operation of the hydroelectric facility. Requires the resources agencies to establish a process to expeditiously resolve any disputes involving resource or fish or wildlife conditions. Strikes the incentive payment program for hydro-power contained in this title.
Gibbons #48 Division A. Strikes multiple sections (14001-009, 14014, 14015) in order to prevent the 15-year re-authorization of the Price-Anderson Act.
Gibbons #66 Division A. Prevents any federal funds authorized in H.R. 6 to be spent for the transfer or assumption of responsibility from a private entity to the U.S. federal government for the possession, transportation, and disposal of radioactive nuclear waste associated with any nuclear power plant currently licensed in the United States.
Granger #2 Division A. Applies the Department of Energy's 2004 and subsequent federal energy efficiency standards, which are now only applicable to residential clothes washers, to residential-style commercial washers that are basically the same machines but fitted with payment mechanisms and placed in common area laundry facilities. It will thus remedy an illogical distinction in the regulatory treatment of these products, will result in national energy savings by applying the federal standards to some products that are not now subject to them, and will promote product uniformity across state lines. (WITHDRAWN)
Green (TX) #33 Division A. Changes the “hold harmless” Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) threshold from $1.95 billion to $1 billion.
Hastings (FL) #69 Division C. Directs the Secretary of Energy to take all necessary steps and efforts to mitigate any adverse impacts that U.S. energy policy and the provisions of H.R. 6 may have on minority, rural, Native American, and underserved communities. Requires the Secretary of Energy to submit to Congress an annual report detailing the Department’s efforts to implement this requirement.
Houghton #9 Division A. Requires the Secretary of Energy to develop a plan for the transfer of the Western New York Service Center in West Valley, New York, to the federal government, and requires that the plan be transmitted to Congress by December 31, 2003.
Houghton #10 Division A. Transfers title to, and responsibility for, all radioactive waste at the Western New York Service Center in West Valley, New York to the Secretary of Energy. The purpose of the amendment is to resolve the outstanding issues between the State of New York and teh United States regarding the long-term stewardship of the site, which contains vast amounts of federal waste, by transferrring the site to the federal government in return for an agreed upon payment from New York State’s Perpetual Care Fund to the Department of Energy.
Inslee-Holt-Spratt #74 Substitute. Strikes all after the enacting clause. Sets Energy Performance Goals for the country. Provides the tools needed to achieve the Energy Performance Goals. These tools include innovative use of the tax code, investment in R&D, and federal expenditures in existing infrastructure needs. Requires the Administration to set up a monitoring system to track progress towards the Energy Performance Goals. Should measures be needed in addition to the tools provided, the amendment directs the President to initiate voluntary, regulatory, or other actions that may be needed to achieve the Energy Performance Goals. All expenses are offset by freezing the upper income tax cuts scheduled for 2004, closure of the offshore corporate tax loophole, and removal of abusive tax shelters. (LATE)
Kind #26 Division C. Strikes Title II of Division C, relating to oil and gas development provisions.
Kind #27 Division C. Strikes heading for Title II of Division C and inserts “(Outer Continental Shelf).” Establishes a framework for permitting alternative-energy-related uses on the Outer Continental Shelf not already expressly covered by existing statutes. Assigns authority for this program to the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service which, under existing law, administers federal leasing and operations for oil, gas, and other mineral activities on the Outer Continental Shelf. Specifies the types of areas that should be avoided, such as marine protected areas, and provides for more State and public input throughout the process. Provides a mechanism for identifying, in advance, appropriate sites for developing offshore wind energy facilities that provide the greatest source of energy with the least damage to the environment. Also provides a process for soliciting competing proposals for renewable energy facilities in the same locations and compensation to the government for the value of the license.
King#73 Division D. The amendment would modify the current small ethanol producer tax credit by doing the following: 1) Allocating the ten-cents-per-gallon production income alcohol fuels credit to the members of a farmer cooperative; 2) Changing the definition of a "small ethanol producer" from 30 million gallons per year to 60 million gallons per year; 3) Allowing the credit to be claimed against the alternative minimum tax; and 4) Repealing the rule that the amount of the credit is included in the income of the small ethanol producer. (LATE)
Levin #72 Placeholder. Division A. Replaces the vehicle tax incentives provisions in Section D, Title I, of H.R. 6 with a modified version of the Clean, Efficient Automobiles Resulting from Advanced Car Technologies Act of 2003 (CLEAR Act). Expands the alternative vehicle tax incentives, covers a broader array of advanced vehicle technologies, and provides additional incentives for the purchase of alternative vehicles. (LATE)
Maloney#20 Division C. Strikes Section 30201, a section that makes permanent the Interior Secretary’s authority to take royalties-in-kind (RIK) instead of cash payments from leaseholders for oil and gas removed from federal and Indian lands.
Markey/Johnson #52 Division C. Preserves current law, which prohibits drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Nadler #59 Division A. Adds $30 billion to help purchase and secure excess Russian plutonium and highly-enriched uranium. Authorizes funding to purchase excess Russian plutonium, convert Russian plutonium pits to oxide, and to immobilize and irradiate up to 100 megatons of excess plutonium. Provides for funding to purchase highly-enriched uranium and to make improvements to the security of nuclear material in Russia. Also provides funds to employ knowledgeable nuclear personnel and to downsize facilities.
Nadler #63 Division A. Adds to the Highly Enriched Uranium Diversion Study Threat Report (required by section 14032), a new section on the benefits of accelerating the purchase of excess weapons grade plutonium and uranium from Russia to reduce the likelihood that such plutonium and uranium could be stolen or sold to terrorists.
Oberstar #44 Division A. Strikes section 12403 relating to the permanent exemption for construction activities associated with oil and gas exploratory and production operations from storm-water discharge requirements of the Clean Water Act.
Oberstar/Norton #45 Division A. Authorizes the General Services Administrator to establish a photovoltaic solar energy commercialization program for the procurement and installation of photovoltaic solar energy systems for electric production in new and existing public buildings. Auhtorizes $262.7 million for each fiscal year from 2004 to 2008.
Ose #68 Division A. Provides for a credit, against the ethanol mandate, for refiners that produce “clean” gasoline (defined as gasoline that meets or exceeds standards under Subsection 211(k) of the Clean Air Act as reformulated gasoline). Refiners that produce “clean” gasoline would not have to use ethanol or buy ethanol credits. A refiner that produces “clean” gasoline would only get the amount of credits it would otherwise have had to buy, in order to satisfy the ethanol mandate. Delays implementation of the ethanol provisions until 2008. Directs the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on the environmental impacts of ethanol as an additive to gasoline. (LATE)
Pombo #77 Division C. Strikes section 30220, Comprehensive Inventory of OCS Oil and Natural Gas Resources. (LATE)
Porter #70 Division A. Includes liability coverage with respect to transportation of civilian high level radioactive waste. (LATE)
Rahall #3 Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to Division C. Title I-Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Project; Title II-Western Area Power Administration; Title III-Energy Alternatives and Efficiency Regarding Federal Lands; Title IV-Establishment of Indian Energy Programs; Title V-Insular Areas Energy Security; Title VI-Sensible Development of Renewable Energy Resources of the Outer Continental Shelf; Title VII-Surface Owner Property Rights and Protection; Title VIII-Royalty Fairness; Title IX-Reclamation of Abandoned Coal Mine Sites; Title X-Land and Water Conservation Fund Enhancement; and Title XI-Coastal Withdrawals. This amendment is identical to the substitute offered by Mr. Rahall to the Committee Print at the Resources Committee’s markup on April 2, 2003.
Rahall#4 Division C. Strikes Title VII of Division C (Federal Coal Leasing). Title VII would repeal the existing 160-acre limitation for lease modifications.
Rahall #5 Division D. Strikes Section 42011 of Division D, relating to the prepayment of premium liability for coal industry health benefits.
[Committee on Resources] #50 Division C. Restricts the footprint of all oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to no more than 2,000 acres (1/2 size of Dulles Airport)
[Committee on Resources] #51 Division C. Makes available to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program $2.1 billion in bonus bids expected if the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is made available for energy exploration.
[Committee on Resources] #58 Division C. Modifies the comprehensive inventory and assessment of the Outer Continental Shelf Act to address concerns of the Florida delegation that the current language would affect the moratoria on Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas exploration and development offshore the state of Florida. (Request amendment be self-executing; or part of Manager’s Amendment.)
Reynolds #38 End of bill. Expresses Sense of Congress encouraging the Great Lakes States to continue their prohibitions on Great Lakes off-shore oil and gas drilling.
Ryan (WI) #57 Division A. Begins the reduction in the number of boutique fuels by establishing two fuels for states to select when writing their plans to control air pollution to be submitted for EPA approval. Establishes two preferred options for gasoline: a clean-burning gasoline (6.8 Reid Vapor Pressure) and a low Reid Vapor Pressure gasoline (7.8 RVP). Provides statutory preference to a State Implementation Plan that selects one of the identified fuels.
Sandlin#75 Replaces the tax division of H.R. 6 and replace it with the text of H.R. 1436, the Energy Independence and Security Act. Additionally, the Sandlin amendment would offset the cost of the energy tax incentives contained within the amendment by freezing the cut in the highest marginal tax rate. (LATE)(PLACEHOLDER)
Schakowsky #42 Division B. Expresses the sense of Congress that the Department of Energy should develop and implement more stringent inventory and procurement controls, including controls on the purchase card program.
Stupak #47 Division C. Prohibits any new drilling to extract oil or gas reserves from any bottomlands of the Great Lakes under federal jurisdiction.
Sessions/Hall #34 Division A. Establishes a process to identify and implement actions the federal government can take that will ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, the production of domestic natural gas supplies sufficient to provide residential consumers with natural gas at reasonable and stable prices; provide industrial, manufacturing, and commercial consumers with natural gas at prices that do not result in plant closures and job losses; facilitate the attainment of national ambient air quality standards under the Clean Air Act; allow for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions; and to support development of the preliminary phases of hydrogen-based energy sectors. States the goal of the United States should be to produce from domestic natural gas reserves at least 85% of the annual projected domestic demand for natural gas.
Solis #29 Division A. Amends Section 12201 on hydraulic fracturing by striking the current section and inserting language that requires: a completed EPA hydraulic fracturing study and independent scientific review by the National Academy of Science; a regulatory determination by the Administration of the EPA; preservation of federal authority to respond in the future where endangerment or adverse health effects are established. Citizens would be precluded from filing lawsuits to force states to regulate under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Sweeney #56 Division A. Requires further reductions in the total annual emissions of sulfur dioxide by utility units (cap of 3 million tons by 2012) and nitrogen oxides by facilities with one or more combustion units serving at least one electricity generator with a capacity of at least 25 megawatts (cap of 1.7 million tons by 2012). Requires EPA to promulgate regulations controlling electric utility and industrial source emissions of mercury.
Tauzin #21 Technical amendment to change the short title of H.R. 6 to the “Energy Policy Act of 2003" and strikes section 10001 from the table of contents.
Udall (CO) #31 Division C. Provides for grants of up to $20 per ton to enable operators of biomass facilities to purchase brush, small trees, and other material removed from forests in order to reduce the risk of forest fires. Allows the grant money to be used only to purchase material removed from forest lands near communities.
Udall (CO) #32 Division C. Requires companies developing onshore federally-owned oil or gas to: replace any damaged water supplies; assure any water injected underground does not damage an aquifer; comply with all federal and state laws applicable to water not injected underground; submit a proposed water-management plan with the application for an oil or gas lease.
Udall (NM) #39 Division A. Requires retail electricity suppliers (except for municipal and cooperative utilities) obtain 15% of their power production from a portfolio of renewable energy resources by 2020, increasing to 20% by 2025.
Udall (NM) #40 Division C. Strikes section 14029, relating to uranium mining. Eliminates the $10 M payment for 3 years to improve leaching uranium mining techniques.
Udall (NM) #41 Division C. Requires the creation of surface use agreements between private landowners, ranchers and farmers, and the oil and gas industry prior to any development of subsurface mineral rights owned by the federal government.
Velazquez #28 Division A. Prevents a disproportionate share of power plants from being sited in low-income and minority communities. Gives citizens greater influence over the permitting and siting process.
Vitter #62 Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should reduce dependence on foreign energy sources from 58%, the percentage of oil consumed from foreign sources in 2002, to 45% within ten years.
Waxman #35 Division A. Sense of Congress that summarizes the current scientific understanding of climate change, its potential effects, and the position of the United States regarding climate change. States that it is the sense of Congress that the United States should demonstrate international leadership and responsibility in addressing climate change.
Waxman #36 Division A. Requires the Administration to take voluntary, regulatory, and other actions to reduce oil demand in the United States by 600,000 barrels per day from projected levels by 2010. Does not per se mandate changes to C.A.F.E. standards.
Wilson (NM) #49 Division A. Modifies section 16092 relating to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s refund authority over certain currently exempt government owned utilities that make spot market sales provided such sales violate Commission rules in effect at the time. Extends the defined sales from spot market sales to short term sales defined as 30 days or less.
Wilson (NM) #64 Division C. Establishes the Renewable Energy Technology Investment Fund and the Royalties Conservation Fund. Provides that the funds would be financed through receipt of a portion of the royalties and bonus payments from any oil production in the northern plains of Alaska. The Royalties Conservation Fund would be geared toward conservation and could invest in backlogged national park maintenance, national forests, urban parks, or for historic preservation. The Renewable Energy Technology Investment Fund would support the development of alternative and renewable energy technologies.
Wilson (NM) #65 Division C. Limits the surface area covered by production and support facilities on the Alaska Coastal Plain to 2,000 acres or less.
Wynn #55 Division A. Requires the Department of Homeland Security to assess the vulnerabilities of the national grid to acts of sabotage and terrorism. DHS would be required to report its findings to Congress within a year of enactment. (WITHDRAWN)
Wu #46 Division B. Requires the Secretary of Energy to make to Congress a biennial report detailing the department’s equal employment opportunity practices.
* Summaries derived from information submitted by the amendment sponsors.
