Dateline: 08/02/01

The U.S. House on Thursday morning passed President Bush's comprehensive energy legislation including provisions for petroleum exploration and production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Just after midnight, lawmakers voted 240 - 189 in favor of H.R. 4, a bill "to enhance energy conservation, research and development and to provide for security and diversity in the energy supply for the American people."

Sixteen Republicans went against President Bush in voting in opposition to the bill, while 36 Democrats voted in favor.

Opponents of the bill put up a fierce fight. By the time the final vote came  -- after over 14 hours of debate, the house had voted down two key amendments that would have substantially changed President Bush's energy plan.

On a narrow vote of 206 - 223, the House defeated an amendment banning oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The amendment was offered by Reps. Nancy Johnson (D-Conn.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass). 

Citing figures showing that oil from the Arctic refuge could replace United States imports from Iraq for 70 year, Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) argued against the amendment, stating "It's a lot better if we produce it at home than depend on Saddam Hussein.''

Speaking in favor of the amendment, Rep. David Bonior (D-Mich) stressed the environmental damage that would be done to the pristine wilderness by oil exploration. "This [ANWR] ... is no ordinary land, it's a cathedral of nature."

Under the bill as passed, oil and gas exploration in the refuge is limited to 2000 acres.

Also voted down 160 - 269, was an amendment offered by Reps. Markey and Republican Sherwood Boehlert of New York that would have required light trucks and small utility vehicles to improve gas mileage by 6.8 mpg by 2007.

Here are highlights of the bill as passed by the House:

• Includes more than $33 billion in energy industry tax incentives for promotion of "clean coal" technology, renewable sources of energy and modest increases in mileage for small utility vehicles.
• Opens 2000 acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas exploration in hopes of reducing dependence on imported oil. 
• Requires that total consumption of gasoline by small utility vehicles be reduced by 5 billion gallons over the next six years. This was a much more modest reduction than that supported by House and Senate Democrats.
• Creates tax breaks and incentives to extend and modernize operations of nuclear power plants.
• Creates tax credits for purchases of alternative energy products like hybrid gas-electric cars and solar panels.
• Directs that all public lands, other than other than monuments, national parks or wilderness areas, be examined for their potential to produce coal and sources of renewable energy.
• Waives the requirement for royalty payments to the government by deep-water oil and gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Bush energy bill now faces a much rougher road in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where debate will not come until after Congress returns from its Summer break on September 4.