Article published Dec 19, 2007

Energy bill fuels Montana projects

By FAITH BREMNER

Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — A long-awaited energy bill that would boost vehicle fuel efficiency standards and Montana's budding ethanol industry passed the House on Tuesday and is on its way to President George Bush for his signature.

The measure was approved by a 314-100 margin. Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont., voted for the bill. Bush has said he will sign it.

"Today's energy bill was a good first step in ending our nation's dependence on foreign oil," Rehberg said in a statement. "Although there is still more to be done, this legislation signals a good start in terms of energy conservation through reasonable increases in our Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards."

The Senate passed the bill last week after removing tax provisions that would have canceled $21 billion in tax subsidies to the oil industry, a provision strenuously opposed by Republicans and the White House.

Another casualty was a provision Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., put in the bill that would have given the U.S. Forest Service and the state of Montana $161 million to jointly purchase environmentally sensitive lands from willing sellers for fish habitat restoration projects.

The pared-down measure requires automakers to increase fuel economy standards by 40 percent over the next 15 years — the first such mandated increase in more than 30 years. It also requires oil companies to blend at least 36 billion gallons of ethanol with their gasoline by 2022. Under current law, oil companies must use at least 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol by 2012.

The new requirement is expected to increase the demand for ethanol in the coming years. That, in turn, will encourage more investment in ethanol plants, such as the facility Montana Ethanol, LLC plans to build in Great Falls next year. The company hopes to break ground next summer and, when completed 18 months later, churn out 126 million gallons of ethanol each year, spokesman Gary Hebener said. The company will use barley and wheat as its feedstock and the plant will employ 116 people, he said.

"(The energy bill) is critically important because the financial community has become very concerned about the national long-term support for renewable fuels as the industry has grown dramatically in the last four years," Hebener said. "This will dramatically expand development opportunities in our industry."

The energy bill also authorizes Congress to give money to the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership, a consortium of public and private organizations seeking to help build the region's first commercial-scale project for capturing carbon emissions from coal-burning power plants and storing the carbon deep underground.

"This bill is going to make America cleaner, more efficient and help wean us from our addiction to foreign oil while bringing development and jobs to rural Montana," Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said in a statement. "Our state can, and will, be a major player in America's energy future, and this bill is a good first step."