Energy-packed Us Farm Bill Moves To Final Vote In Congress; Bush Veto Possible

摘要

US House and Senate negotiators finished work on a farm bill conference report Thursday designed to strengthen oversight of natural gas markets and substantially increase federal investment in the cellulosic biofuels industry. The bill is slated to come before the House and Senate this week, and while it is expected to pass both chambers, it faces a possible veto by President Bush.rnThe measure would close the so-called "Enron loophole" in the Commodity Exchange Act. This loophole has effectively prevented the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from fully regulating electronic exchanges, such as Atlanta-based Intercon-tinentalExchange.rnThe provision would reauthorize the CEA and amend its language to give the CFTC greater oversight of electronically traded futures and financial contracts that serve a significant price discovery function.rnThe major energy-related provisions deal with ethanol. The legislation would create and fund a program to encourage farmers to grow biomass for advanced biofuels, and to assist them with the harvesting, transportation and storage of the crop.rnA separate program would provide grants to help existing bio-refineries convert to biomass.