Press Stakeout Following Senate Policy Luncheons

HEADLINE: PRESS STAKEOUT FOLLOWING SENATE POLICY LUNCHEONS
 
PARTICIPANTS: SENATOR PETE DOMENICI (R-NM); AND SENATOR LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK)
 
LOCATION: THE OHIO CLOCK CORRIDOR, THE CAPITOL BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.

BODY:
SEN. DOMENICI: Hello, everybody. We're going to talk a little bit about the energy bill and the energy needs of our country. There's no doubt that one of the things that our nation needs most is a comprehensive energy bill that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs for the future -- future job need -- people of our country.

We're well on the way to producing a draft of this bill, which is being circulated day by day to the press, to the Democrats, and to all members of the conference. The needs are obvious, and the comprehensive bill is difficult. But there's no doubt in my mind that we're going to get it done.

I want to tell you a little bit about our progress. We already have completed drafts of the Domenici-Tauzin drafts that have been delivered to the media, and to the Democrats and all parties, of about 60 percent of the bill. Before this week is out, we will complete all but about four sections, and those will be worked on over the weekend, and perhaps will be ready as early as next week. That means that those who are on the conference that want to challenge, that want to offer amendments, that think they can do something better, will have their chance. They're having regular staff meetings every day for two to four hours, that are arranged for the opposition to go over these drafts that we've approved.

So, in summary, we believe one of the biggest jobs that we can do for our country is an energy bill. And there's no doubt that we're going to produce it. It is going to cause us to have a variety of kinds of energy for the future, and clearly will fix our electricity system so that it will be better than ever, and so those who own them and control them will have the authority and the incentives to do even a better job of producing electricity for the future.

Now, a couple of members of our committee that have worked very hard, that I'd like to have a few comments, one in particular from Alaska. We have already produced and circulated the portion of the bill that will generate natural gas from Alaska in the future.

(To Senator Murkowski) And perhaps you would like to discuss it for a moment.

SEN. MURKOWSKI: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

And it is significant and important that we are at this point, to really get the provisions in place for an Alaska natural gas pipeline to be on the way. This is not an insignificant project. This is a $20 billion project; will entail 3,500 miles of pipe going from Alaska through Canada into the lower 48. This is huge. And it's going to entail some help from the Congress, and it's going to entail some financing incentives that we recognize are necessary in order to make this project happen.

It will be the largest project of its kind in the history of the country. Huge. So what we have in place now and what I'm pleased to report and to thank the chairman, we have in place many of those issues that will allow the pipeline to proceed forward, such as streamlined permitting, regulatory procedures that will facilitate the construction of a line. We have a sense of the Congress that says we want the steel for the pipe to be produced here in America, we want funding for jobs and training opportunities to be included with it. And I have to speak to the jobs component of the Alaska natural gas pipeline.

Again, this is a huge line. But what we're talking about in terms of construction dollars, in terms of direct and indirect jobs from Alaska all the way across the country, we're talking over 400,000 jobs to Americans. Now, these might not be actual construction jobs on the pipeline. They might be in the fertilizer industry. But this is what we're talking about. It's providing gas to America. Over 53 million homes in this country, homes, industries, businesses, rely on natural gas. And the fact of the matter is, we're running low on our supplies, and Alaska has the reserves available to supply America. So this is a critical provision for the energy bill, because this not only allows for the jobs that we're talking about, but it allows for production in the energy bill. And if we pass an energy bill that does not have production, energy production in it, we haven't given Americans what they need. We need to help facilitate this.

So I'm pleased that the chairman's working so hard with this. Thank you.

SEN. DOMENICI: Thank you.

One -- two of our conferees are here with me. They have their staff working with our staff on producing the bill in the manner that I've described. And one of them that has been very, very active in helping --

We've got three. Excuse me, I just saw you. Would you care to say something?

SEN. CRAIG THOMAS (R-WY): Yes, sir. Thank you.

I want to make two points. One is that we -- this is a very broad bill. People are thinking this is all that we're doing is encouraging production. We're talking about alternatives, we're talking about renewables, we're talking about research, and we're talking about domestic production. So I want to make sure that people understand, this is a broader thing.

The second point is on the electric component, we're talking about where we need to be in the future. And we're trying to find a balance in the regulation between states. We're urging the Organization of Regional Transportation Organizations so the states will have authority there. Give authority to FERC over the coming together of those. But we've changed in electricity. We used to develop only what we distributed. Now we have merchant developers, merchant generators that need to send that electricity around. And you do that, you have to have transportation and transmission. These are some of the things we're working on.

SEN. DOMENICI: I also want to say that we're moving ahead with some really basic research that is about the most exciting we've ever done. It has to do with producing hydrogen so that in the future America might run automobiles on hydrogen. One of the strong proponents of that has been our president. But in our committee, the lead proponent of that and of building a reactor that will do that is Larry Craig. We'd like him to say a few words about hydrogen, this new -- new nuclear power plant we're going to build in Idaho that is going to both produce energy and hydrogen.

Larry, would you like to comment on that?

SEN. LARRY E. CRAIG (R-ID): What we've crafted is a very forward-looking piece of legislation. It's not only important to deal with electrical production and energy production now, it is important to look a decade or two ahead as we did historically, but we quit doing two decades ago. And for the last two decades we've literally operated off of the surpluses that we created three decades ago. Now this bill takes us a quantum leap forward, to look at the future, the new technology, to look at the new passive Gen 4 nuclear reactors, and to say that they can operate much more efficiently if, in the down periods of time, they're allowed to generate, through electrolysis, hydrogen. Instead of taking hydrogen out of gas that comes down out of Alaska when it should be used for space heat, we're taking hydrogen out of water, the way it ought to be produced, for the next generation of surface transportation in this country. So it's a very forward- looking approach. And truly, this bill is, without question, one of the largest job-producing bills in the next decade that this Senate has ever dealt with, I do believe.

SEN. DOMENICI: Mr. Chairman, we're glad that you joined us -- the chairman of the Budget Committee is also close at hand when I need him on the Energy Committee -- and look forward to a product that you can support whole-heartedly, just as I can. And thank you very much for your effort.

SEN. DON NICKLES (R-OK): Well, Mr. Chairman, let me just echo a couple of things that have been said. One, I think you're doing a fantastic job, because you not only are managing and chairman of the conference committee on the energy bill with Chairman Tauzin, but also managing the energy and water appropriation bill on the floor. We hope and expect to get that completed tonight. And so, you're doing both of those simultaneously. And in the process, you're going to pass a bill -- because of your tenacity and stubbornness, you're going to pass a bill that's going to create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

SEN. DOMENICI: Stubbornness?

SEN. NICKLES: Yes. And -- (laughter) -- because nobody's pushed harder. Senator Murkowski, your predecessor, pushed it very hard. But you're going to get it done this year. And I just compliment you, and Senator Murkowski, and Senator Thomas and Craig and others, because this is not an easy job. These are big bills dealing with a multitude of issues: conservation, production, you name it; natural gas, electricity. The electricity section alone is very complicated, not easily done, not completed.

SEN. DOMENICI: But it will be.

SEN. NICKLES: But I have no doubt, with your leadership and others', we'll be successful in getting a very positive, comprehensive energy package passed; probably the first one in decades.

SEN. DOMENICI: I wanted to say I looked up stubbornness in the dictionary --

SEN. NICKLES: It was a compliment.

SEN. DOMENICI: -- and there's another word, tenacity.

SEN. NICKLES: Tenacity.

SEN. DOMENICI: So, I think I will call myself a tenacious senator.

SEN. NICKLES: Tenacious. Persistent.

SEN. DOMENICI: Thank you very much.

SEN. NICKLES: Thank you.

Q Senator Domenici, one quick question. What do you expect in the energy and water bill? Senators Feinstein and Kennedy had an amendment about the baby -- so-called baby nukes. Do you expect that amendment to be -- (inaudible) -- today?

SEN. DOMENICI: That's going to be voted on in the next 20 minutes, and we're going to win; they're going to lose.