At the Dakotafest debate in Mitchell on Aug. 18, Senator Daschle made the following comment about why he has been unable to deliver enough votes to pass the energy bill, with its important ethanol provisions:
"Unfortunately you have Republican leadership on the other side who say that their price for ensuring that we pass energy this year is to exempt the oil companies and the manufacturers of methyl tertiary butyl ether [MTBE] from any liability for the damage created in now 43 states costing more than $200 billion. So we have a problem. The Republican leadership continues to insist that that be done. I said 'You take that out, we will pass an energy bill, I will get the other votes.'”
In fact, the MTBE safe harbor provision WAS taken out of the energy bill last spring, and Senator Daschle still couldn't get the other votes to defeat a Democratic-led filibuster. Even the Houston Chronicle reported this fact in an April 29, 2004 report headlined "Energy bill falls short yet again; MTBE pulled out, but Senate balks." Excerpt:
In an unsuccessful bid to win support for his proposal, [Senator Pete] Domenici had stripped out a disputed provision from last year's stalled energy bill that would have granted legal protections to makers of the gasoline additive methyl tertiary-butyl ether, more commonly known as MTBE....MTBE makers pointed to Thursday's vote to argue that the controversial provision cannot be blamed for the legislation's failure last year.
"It proves the point that the MTBE safe harbor is not the factor that stands in the way of comprehensive energy legislation," argued Frank Maisano, a spokesman for the MTBE manufacturers.
When Daschle blames the death of the energy bill on MTBE, he's clearly not telling the truth to South Dakota voters. Daschle promised that he'd "get the other votes" if the MTBE provision was taken out, but when it was taken out, the energy bill still failed. Where was Senator Daschle's vaunted clout?
UPDATE: To view the Senate Roll Call vote on the energy bill without the MTBE safe harbor provision, click HERE.
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