Three powerful lobbying forces, automakers, electric utilities and the coal industry, are confounding Democrats' efforts to forge a less-polluting US energy policy.
WASHINGTON: Three powerful lobbying forces -- automakers, electric utilities and the coal industry -- are confounding Democrats' efforts to forge a less-polluting US
energy policy.
Disputes over automobile fuel economy, use of coal as a motor fuel, and requirements for utilities to use more wind or biomass to generate electricity have threatened to stall energy legislation in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The issues have been the focus of intense lobbying by the coal industry, electric utilities heavily dependent on coal, and by automobile manufacturers trying to block new fuel economy requirements from Washington and in a dozen states.
Unless agreements can be worked out in the coming days, the impasse could dash hopes by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House leader Nancy Pelosi to produce an energy bill -- the first since Democrats took control of Congress -- before the beginning of next month as promised.
Democrats this week are trying to find a way around a threatened filibuster and resurrect a proposal to require electric utilities to use more renewable fuels and spur development of wind, solar and biomass energy sources.
An intense Republican fight against the proposal has been waged largely at the behest of two of the biggest US coal-burning electricity producers -- the Atlanta-based Southern Company and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The companies, in letters to senators, argue that the requirement to produce 15 per cent of their power from renewable energy sources cannot be met without huge electricity cost increases. Supporters of the measure argue that is false.
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