Energy Bill Won't Ease Fuel Prices Quickly - Bush

The protection is worth billions of dollars to MTBE makers, such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips, which produced it to help gasoline meet clean air rules.

The liability waiver, backed by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, helped doom energy legislation last year because the Senate refused to accept the provision. The chairman of the Senate Energy Committee said the House must find an MTBE compromise before the Senate will approve a final energy bill.

The House Rules Committee, which set the terms for debate on the energy bill, blocked an effort by Democrats to try to strip the MTBE protection language from the measure.

"We're working with our friends in the Senate and folks in the House to come up with that (MTBE) compromise," said Republican Rep. Joe Barton of Texas. "We have an agreement to have an agreement."

The House bill contains $8 billion in energy tax breaks and incentives to encourage energy-saving technology and more crude oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear production.

Bush said with the price of oil above $50 a barrel, energy companies don't need tax incentives to hunt for oil and gas. However, the president is seen as unlikely to veto a bill that includes lavish subsidies for the industry.

The House bill would also allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The House voted 231-200 against removing ANWR drilling from the chamber's energy bill during the House floor debate.

In the Senate, a coalition of Republicans and Democrats opposes giving oil companies access to the Arctic refuge and has enough votes to filibuster an energy bill over the issue.

Democrats also failed 177-254 to add a provision to the bill to boost the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks from the current 25 miles per gallon to 33 mpg by 2015 to slow oil imports. The U.S. market consumes almost 21 million barrels of oil and petroleum products each day. Imports account for about three out of every five of those barrels.

The bill would also stretch U.S. gasoline supplies by mandating the annual production of at least 5 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol for blending into motor fuel.