Transcripts

The Energy Bill Fuels Debate on Capitol Hill

PAUL KANGAS: Today, Federal energy analysts updated their forecast for summer gasoline prices today to $3.05 a gallon nationwide. That's $0.09 higher than previous estimated and $0.21 higher than last summer. With those near record prices at the pump, the Senate took up debate on an energy bill today, including measures making gas price gouging illegal. Darren Gersh reports.

DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: It is already illegal for oil companies to collude to raise gas prices. Now, Washington Senator Maria Cantwell says it should be illegal to charge what she calls unconscionable excessive prices during a presidentially declared energy emergency. Cantwell's legislation would also make it a crime to manipulate oil supplies.

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D) WASHINGTON: Whether supply is taken down, whether a refinery is taken down supposedly for maintenance and then the price goes up.

GERSH: The Bush administration says Cantwell's price-gouging language is too vague, exposing oil companies to lawsuits. And the administration says that could discourage investments in new refineries. That's in keeping with a general Republican complaint about the Senate energy bill. Idaho Senator Larry Craig says the legislation encourages clean technologies without boosting production or tapping offshore oil fields.

SEN. LARRY CRAIG (R) IDAHO: We simply cannot ignore the next 10 or 15 years and jump into the future. We got to continue to produce and we need to produce and we got to continue to refine the hydrocarbons to supply the gas and we need to expand that capacity.

GERSH: Republicans hope to change the energy bill to encourage alternative fuels, including liquid coal and nuclear energy. But Democrats are pushing hard for renewable fuels, pledging a fourfold increase in production by 2022. Food manufacturers worry the only practical way to meet that goal is with corn-based ethanol and that would further drive up the prices of beef, poultry and other foods made with corn. Cal Dooley is CEO of the Grocery Manufacturers and Food Products Association. He says taxpayers spent billions of dollars supporting the ethanol industry.

CAL DOOLEY, CEO, GROCERY MANUFACTURERS/FOOD PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION: That's not what they signed up for and we're trying to ask our policy makers to step back a little bit and understand all of the implications of this ethanol policy.

GERSH: The Senate will also consider whether to give the Federal government the power to sue OPEC for anti-trust violations. The White House warns that could lead to retaliation against American interests overseas. Darren Gersh, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Washington.