Green groups decry House refinery bill slated for action

Washington (Platts)--5Oct2005

US Environmental and watchdog groups Wednesday lambasted a pending House
Republican energy bill for controversial Clean Air Act changes and said
Congress could take more immediate action to add refining capacity. 
     The legislation, authored by Rep. Joe Barton (Republican-Texas), is
expected to be debated by the House this week. The bill's main aim is to spur
construction of new refineries in an effort to boost gasoline supplies and
lower prices at the pump. 
     But the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and the US
Public Interest Research Group said the bill should reopen some 50 refineries
closed in the 1990s and encourage renewable energy to lessen demand for
record-priced natural gas. They charged that the oil industry has "actively
manipulated" refining capacity to drive up fuel prices. The groups said they
would try to defeat the measure, rather than seek changes to it. 
     They decried the bill mainly for codifying Bush administration reforms to
the New Source Review program, which were put on hold by a federal appeals
court in 2003. NRDC's John Walke said the provision would exempt 20,000
chemical plants, incinerators and power plants from NSR; those facilities
would still have to comply with other clean-air regulations. 
     Walke also suggested that the legislation could interfere with state
efforts to use alternative fuels; it would require the Environmental
Protection Agency to allow use of just six fuels in an effort to reduce the
approximately 30 "boutique" blends consumed today.
                                 ---Mike Schmidt, mike_schmidt@platts.com

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