Costa Is Part Of Group To Find Energy Solutions

Press Release

Costa Is Part Of Group To Find Energy Solutions

A group of House lawmakers are looking to replicate an effort among Senate centrists by bypassing their party leaders and putting together a compromise plan to address gas prices.

Reps. Neil Abercrombie and John Peterson., are gathering a group of rank-and-file lawmakers - preferably split evenly between the two parties - for a meeting Monday in the hopes of quickly piecing together a legislative package. They plan to formally announce the group's formation Tuesday.

"There is an effort that's going on among members to try to ... put together something that makes sense and is balanced," Natural Resources Energy Subcommittee Chairman Jim Costa., said.

Costa was one of 19 Democrats, predominately from oil and gas producing districts, who voted against a "use-it-or-lose it" plan sponsored by Democratic leaders shortly before the Independence Day recess.

House Democratic leaders as early as next week intend to bring that plan up again as part of a larger package emphasizing more production in areas where it is allowed to counter repeated calls from GOP leaders to expand access to new areas.

Many Democrats from oil and gas producing areas - including those opposing "use-it-or-lose-it" - agree with Republicans on opening up areas for drilling.

New House and Senate efforts have sprouted due to growing frustration that Democratic and Republican leaders are doing little more than fighting a public relations war over gas prices.

"They're not working together," Peterson said. "This is the members saying ‘We're going to work together,' so we're just going to bypass them. The American public wants us to quit arguing and do something."

Texas Rep. Gene Green - who leads an informal caucus of nearly two-dozen oil-patch Democrats and is an opponent of "use-it-or-lose-it" - said House Speaker Pelosi indicated at a leadership meeting Wednesday that she wants more of a partnership with Democrats like Green, as well as Republicans.

But "I still think we've got a ways to go," he said. "What's happening in the Senate will make the House more flexible."

Peterson, who is retiring this year, said he hopes to build a package around a plan he and Abercrombie have offered to open up more areas of the Outer Continental Shelf to oil and natural gas drilling in part by guaranteeing that royalties are paid out to producing states and that revenues go to fund programs boosting conservation and renewable energy sources.

The details of the broader proposal and size of the House group will probably start taking shape at Monday's meeting. Peterson is looking to limit the group to about five to seven representatives from each party from different regions of the country that have a large energy policy portfolio.

"I think the bigger you get, the harder it'll be to come up with an agreement," Peterson said. "We don't have a lot of time." The idea would be to propose and possibly move something by the time lawmakers leave for the summer.

The 10-member Senate group held a second meeting Wednesday evening and decided to try to have a framework for a package done before the August recess and to introduce a bill by early September, caucus member Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said.

The group plans to eventually expand with an equal rise in members from each party. "We are trying to push our leadership respectfully," Landrieu said. "We have to nudge the Democrats to a place where they are not real comfortable and Republicans to a place where they're not real comfortable."

The Senate caucus was also created out of frustration with a lack of partnership between Democratic and Republican leaders, she said. "We're tired of the breast beating and flag waving and rhetorical bombs being thrown," she said.

Senate Majority Leader Reid and other Democratic leaders met with energy experts Wednesday to learn more about how speculation in the oil futures market is contributing to the rise in oil and gas prices.

House and Senate Democratic leaders have talked about bringing up plans to curb market speculation before the August recess.

House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson, whose committee is holding hearings on the speculation issue, said Democrats may be able to do something before the summer break, but it would be too early for his liking since he wants to give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission more time to gather data on the problem.

"But there's a lot of pressure to move quickly" from lawmakers who are getting berated by their constituents on gasoline prices, he said. "We're in the crosshairs," Peterson said.

The speculation language is expected to be part of a larger Senate package, whose timing and scope is unclear. "I think everybody's throwing everything out there," said Sen. Maria Cantwell., a top lieutenant for Reid on energy issues.

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