In an effort to strengthen their hand in looming negotiations with the House, senators voted 52 to 48 to require power companies to use more renewable fuels like wind and solar power to generate electricity. At the same time, the Finance Committee approved a $14 billion tax incentive package that rewards alternative fuels and energy efficiency.
But the Senate did not go as far as he and other Democrats had urged, rejecting by a vote of 53 to 47 a Democratic proposal to establish a goal of a 40 percent reduction in oil imports within 20 years. Critics had called the target unattainable and pointed to a provision that calls on the president to try to reduce oil consumption by one million barrels a day.
Yet the direction the Senate is taking on energy policy is putting it at odds with the House, where longtime oil industry allies have already produced a measure favoring traditional fossil fuels. The Bush administration also opposes the utility requirements approved by the Senate as well as the provision encouraging the drop in oil use.
Lawmakers acknowledged that the contents of the tax package, which provides an array of tax breaks for alternative power, hybrid vehicles and energy-efficient appliances and home construction, was purposefully written to provide a sharp contrast with the House, where the weight was on tax breaks for the traditional power industry.
With the approval of the utility requirements, leaders of both parties said it was becoming more likely the Senate would pass its legislation in the days ahead, though potential fights remain over climate-change provisions, offshore oil drilling and where to locate facilities to receive imports of liquefied natural gas.
But lawmakers are already preparing for the negotiations with the House. Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the senior Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said resolving the wide gap between the House and Senate might require the deep involvement of the White House, which has been clamoring for an energy measure.
Bingaman was the chief author of the provision to require utilities to generate at least 10 percent of their electricity with renewable fuels by 2020 to reduce reliance on oil, coal and natural gas while increasing demand for emerging power sources such as wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and even wave energy.
The Department of Energy would be required to create a market to trade renewable energy credits to allow utilities that cannot generate or purchase enough renewable power to meet the requirement. Currently, about 2 percent of the nation's electricity is estimated to be produced through renewable fuels.
Opponents of the plan said the new requirements would prove costly and disrupt utilities in regions where alternative energy is less available. Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, said the energy department had estimated the program would cost utilities $18 billion, though Bingaman said the expense would be offset by less spending on natural gas and other fuels.
