Posted on: Friday, July 1, 2005

EDITORIAL
Senate energy bill is more balanced

The news that the U.S. Senate passed its version of the energy bill with a wide margin is encouraging. The measure seeks to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and it more vigorously addresses environmental concerns such as global warming than either version championed by the House or the president.

Environmentalists have been watching the entire energy discussion with growing alarm, and with good reason: So far the focus has rested on the development of new domestic oil sources and nuclear fission rather than more progressive options.

And at a time when plans are moving ahead in France for an experimental nuclear fusion reactor that may produce a cleaner, safer energy source, it's foolish to adopt a policy that locks us into a fossil fuels approach at the expense of promising technologies.

The Bush team has shown some interest in the production of biofuels such as ethanol to supplement the oil and gasoline this country consumes. But neither of the lawmaking packages proposed by the administration nor by the House will do as much as the Senate's, which calls for doubling the use of corn-blended ethanol in gasoline by 2012.

Of course, the Senate bill also allows for nuclear power options and presses for an inventory of domestic oil and natural gas reserves, even in areas where drilling is now banned. But senators would not allow new Alaskan oil drilling as their House colleagues would, and they also include a directive to cut oil use by 1 million barrels a day in the next 10 years.

In addition, it's refreshing at last to see politicians officially acknowledge the human element in climate changes. The Senate's offer of about $2 billion in tax breaks, loans and credits to encourage technology that can reduce carbon dioxide emissions is a welcome acknowledgement — if a very small one — of the threat global warming poses.

While it's impossible to predict how much of the Senate bill will survive in the final compromise, clearly this bill at least advances a more balanced view. Its sponsors must prod the conference committee closer toward their position.