House Moves Favor Energy Industry: Democrats Drop Some of Bill’s Provisions

Bowing to pressure from energy-state Democrats, House leaders have yanked some of the more industry-unfriendly provisions embedded in their proposed energy package.

But Democratic leaders have yet to decide whether to allow a vote to raise fuel mileage standards for cars and trucks.


Hoping to quell a revolt among producing-state Democrats and bring an energy bill to the floor by week’s end, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., agreed to back off some proposals critics had complained could hamper domestic energy production.

Following a meeting last Friday with Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, and more than a dozen other Democrats from energy states, Pelosi and other Democratic leaders promised to remove language restricting how oil and natural gas producers can pay their federal royalties, ratcheted back deadlines to approve drilling permits, and withdrew a proposal that would have given states greater authority to block construction of interstate electric power lines, lawmakers and leadership staffers said Monday.

Houston Chronicle