US Senate energy bill omits nuclear energy, hydropower provisions
Washington (Platts)--20May2005
Senators Pete Domenici (Republican-New Mexico) and Jeff Bingaman (Democrat-New Mexico) have elected to leave out of energy legislation for now a multi-billion-dollar nuclear energy demonstration project in Idaho and hydropower relicensing provisions that have long divided the senators. The US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Friday released the nuclear and renewable energy sections of the bill, which the panel plans to debate next week. The nuclear energy section includes no funding for a demonstration of an advanced reactor proposed for the Idaho National Laboratory that would produce both nuclear power and hydrogen. The project was authorized in energy legislation that failed in the last Congress. But the project has come under fire from Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who estimates it will cost the government $2-bil. During testimony before House appropriators in March, Bodman said he would "call into question whether we are going to meet any schedule" for building the Generation IV reactor. In addition to taking out the Gen IV reactor provisions from last Congress' bill, the senators kept out of the bill proposals for a reactor decommissioning pilot program and a requirement that the US Dept of Energy report to Congress on the feasibility of siting nuclear plants at DOE sites. The hydropower language was left out of the renewable energy title, which also lacks a renewable portfolio standard. Republicans in recent congresses have sought to streamline the federal dam licensing process by limiting the ability of groups to challenge a project. Such language is in HR 6, the House's energy bill that passed last month. The renewable portfolio standard also divided Domenici and Bingaman, who is expected to win a Senate floor vote including the provision mandating power companies use renewables to generate 10% of their electricity. The Bush administration and most House and Senate Republicans oppose a renewable portfolio standard. This story was originally published in Platts Electricity Alert http://www.electricityalert.platts.com
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