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Oct. 20, 2003 -- Disagreements over $16 billion in tax incentives may hold up plans to complete a major U.S. energy bill this week.
Republican leaders in Congress asked the House/Senate negotiators, who are all Republicans, to finish decisions on energy-related tax incentives so that the House can vote on them Tuesday, but a weekend of discussions did not produce results, Reuters News Service reported.
Two key sticking points are a provision encouraging refiners to use more corn-based ethanol and tax incentives for the construction of a pipeline to ship natural gas from Alaska to the rest of the U.S.
So far, negotiators have reportedly agreed to:
• Drop plans to allow drilling for oil in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge
• Cancel requirements for the government to survey oil and gas reserves in offshore waters
• Increase the use of ethanol to 5 billion gallons in seven years
• Provide immunity from defective-product lawsuits to MTBE manufacturers, manufacturers of ethanol and makers of other renewable energy sources
• Put off until 2007 a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requirement to have utilities join regional grid organizations and transfer their transmission lines to them.
• Prevent transmission project developers from charging local taxpayers for projects intended to provide electricity to outside regions.
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