Ensign says he won’t vote to stop energy filibuster

Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2004 | 9:09 a.m.

Sen. John Ensign will not support a vote to end a promised filibuster on the Energy Bill, a blow to Republican efforts to pass the controversial bill.

A group of environmentalists said they met with Nevada's Republican senator Tuesday and Ensign said he would support them in their effort to keep the filibuster alive. And Ensign's spokesman confirmed to the Sun late Tuesday that Ensign would not vote to kill the filibuster.

In November, Ensign had voted in a motion called cloture to end the filibuster, although he had promised to vote against the final bill.

Republicans have enough votes in the both the House and Senate to pass the bill. However, the filibuster, conducted by among others Sen. Harry Reid, Ensign's Democratic opposite number, kept the bill from the floor, and the bill's backers failed to end the filibuster by two votes.

The filibuster killed the bill in the Senate, but Republican congressional leaders have vowed to return to the measure early this year.

Supporters, including Reps. Jon Porter and Jim Gibbons, both Nevada Republicans, argue that the bill promotes alternative energy development, especially in states such as Nevada that have an abundance of potential renewable energy from geothermal or solar sources.

Environmentalists have sharply criticized the bill as a pork-laden measure, created behind closed doors by Vice President Dick Cheney and industry executives, heavy with subsidies for petrochemical concerns and the nuclear energy industry. Development of subsidized nuclear energy would make the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump more likely, environmentalists in Nevada fear.

Three Sierra Club and a National Wildlife Federation activists met with Ensign. They reported that the senator said he would oppose a motion for cloture and would support any legislative strategies to defeat the bill.

"I definitely feel we got a strong commitment from Senator Ensign today," said J.J. Straight, a Sierra Club conservation organizer working in Las Vegas. "We feel he really is concerned and we applaud the commitment he made today to Nevada."

Straight said he cited his concerns as a fiscal conservative for the bill and its support for ethanol production as well as its support for the nuclear industry.

Jack Finn, Ensign's spokesman, said the senator told the Bush administration he would give them one vote for cloture, one time, during November's debate.

"From now on he is going to oppose the Energy Bill in any way he can, including the vote for cloture," Finn said.

He said Ensign has not taken heat from the Republican leadership for the stance.

"He is well known among members of leadership for voting his conscience."