Major Energy Legislation
Congress is considering legislation that would have a substantial impact on both onshore and offshore production activities in the United States. The Senate issued an energy and oil spill bill last week, for example, containing chemical disclosure provisions related to hydraulic fracturing and measures to eliminate the $75 million cap on liability under the Oil Pollution Act (S. 3663, the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act). Meanwhile, the House has passed its version of an oil spill bill in response to the Deepwater Horizon incident - (HR 3534, the CLEAR Act). Among other things, it also contains chemical disclosure provisions related to hydraulic fracturing, and raises the financial responsibility level for offshore spills to $1.5 billion.
For more, see this article from the LAT.
[Update: The NYT is reporting on Senator Reid's withdrawal of the Senate bill for the time being: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) yesterday called off dueling test votes planned for today on the Democratic and Republican energy and oil-spill response bills, saying more time was needed to convince senators to support the measure. While he blamed Republicans for blocking efforts to earn the needed 60 votes, the GOP blasted back, accusing Democrats of playing politics all along in bringing up the competing measures."]
