Editorial: Senate bill should be left intact

Tuesday, April 30, 2002 | 8:52 a.m.

The energy bill passed last week by the Senate can be seen as a small lever capable of budging the boulder that is the coal, gas, oil and nuclear industries. The House energy bill can be seen as a large wedge placed under the boulder to ensure it remains in place. Members of a House and Senate conference committee will now negotiate the final bill that will go to the White House for President Bush's signature.

A major victory for the environment was won in the Senate, which rejected drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- a prime feature of the House bill. The victory was tempered, though, by the Senate's failure to incorporate stricter automobile fuel efficiency standards into its bill. Such is politics. Members of Congress answer to the folks back home, certainly, but clout is also wielded by interests such as unions and General Motors Corp.

It's this type of pressure, ironically, that may now work in favor of the Senate bill, an important part of which calls for tripling the amount of ethanol mixed into gasoline over the next 10 years. Ethanol is made by fermenting the sugars of corn, wheat, potatoes, barley and other plants. Crop farmers represent a huge constituency, larger than the one pushing for ANWR drilling. Representatives from crop-producing states will not have much incentive to oppose the Senate bill by holding out for drilling. Ethanol mixtures, known at the pump as oxygenated fuel, are proven to produce far less carbon monoxide -- the chief pollutant in exhaust -- than straight gasoline. The basis for ethanol, renewable crops, are produced in abundance in the United States and if used in greater quantities would lessen demand for Middle East oil. While gasoline mixed with ethanol isn't the perfect cleaner-air solution and will not lead to independence of imported oil, it's a good start.

The Senate bill also offers a good start in other areas -- notably tax breaks for conservation and development of renewable energy sources. While the bill is balanced with incentives for development of traditional energy sources, again, it's a start toward a future that regards renewable fuels as a priority. We would like to see President Bush's signature on an energy bill that leaves the Senate version intact.