Washington Watch: AAPG Makes Impression on ‘The Hill’
The July 2009 Washington Watch column is now available online, providing a recap of the recent AAPG Congressional Visits Day.
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Auction for contracts to produce Iraqi oil a bust
Today the Iraqi people celebrated the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country’s urban areas and the transfer of control to Iraqi security forces.
At the same time, however, the government held an open auction for oil companies to bid on 20 year serivce contracts to produce the nation’s vast oil and natural gas supplies. As the Washington Post reports, the auction of 8 service contracts by the Iraqi oil ministry only resulted in one deal. The ministry accepted a bid submitted by a joint venture of BP and China National Petroleum Corporation to produce the oil in Rumaila field in the south of the country.
The Post reports that most international oil companies (IOCs) were unwilling to accept the government’s …
U.S. House passes climate change bill 219 to 212
House Democrats did not think they would be able to bring this bill to the floor this week. But after striking deals with House Agriculture Committee Chairman Colin Peterson (D-Minn.) and other Members of Congress this week, the bill was put on the House calendar for action today.
Debate on the bill began at 12:46 pm (EDT) with three hours allocated for debate on H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.
Congress then proceeded to debate a Republican amendment that would substitute H.R. 513, The New Manhattan Project for Energy Independence for the language in the bill. After 30 minutes of debate, this amendment was voted on and failed by 172 ayes …
House Democrats question finishing Waxman-Markey this week
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) used his Friday floor speech to manage expectations of whether the House would vote on the Waxman-Markey climate change legislation this week ahead of Congress’s July 4 recess.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Ca.) had hoped to wrap up this legislation before the recess, slated to begin June 29, so that his committee could move on to healthcare reform after the break. Waxman is negotiating with House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) on a variety off issues of how the bill will impact the agricultural and rural communities.
While Hoyer did not rule out a vote if on-going negotations on the legislation yield a break through, but stated that it may take more time to work out these …
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