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Show itural Gas Issue 7.S. Congress Woefully Divided .... .kit. I mill c ullr-r in.,.: , )f.us mul nioie ullrr jUifiiutlii'ii, li csuU-ill has finally muMou-il ur.ijif 10 I'oiiiiicss ,'.nun llwl I all n.mn K-IS PIKCS nfi llncc cais. 1 1 is w uuU poniM iiiiliiuil xro'crs "iu1 P'P'-lino lilies to ncgotiiitc new ,cis or rencsotiate okl ailhout becoming sub-, sub-, nemmi'nl pi ice ceil- iiis. I ND1K Till'. Retail plan lo"B term, hiRh-pnce con-li.icls con-li.icls couUI he sci iippcd at will "Iter Jan. I, )SV And ,K-ie would be a ceiling on consumer consum-er puces Ihiouuli Jan. I, I'JKh tliat would bar all increases oilier than those bused directly on inflation. The Administration insists that its combination of consumer con-sumer protection, incentives for domestic producers, pro-ducers, and economic use of "II our energy resources is logical and will make for more ubimdant energy. The Hnergy IVpai tmcnl calculates that ihe Chief Executive's natural gas price decontrol package will actually bring down domestic prices of tins commodity by I0-.H) cents per 1000 cubic feet in the fust year of its operation. POSITION of the Reagan White House is that current natural gas pricing problems How not from such easing of controls as has already occurred occur-red but from past and current regulatory excesses that ought to be abolished. White House claim is that such excesses penalize consumers over the longer pull. President Reagan was an uvowed advocate of natural price decontrol long before he entered the White House. Time and again he has said that such control is the only sure way to achieve lower relative rela-tive price? for residental consumers. con-sumers. His delay in follow-through follow-through was apparently not due to lack of conviction but to respect for the extent of congressional con-gressional opposition. DURING THE President's first two years in office, economic econo-mic conditions and some political poli-tical considerations were such that there was practically no possibility that Congress would come to agreement on any measure quickening the pace of already scheduled natural gas price decontrol. The odds aren't much belter now but they are better. Demand for natural gas is well below levels set only a few years ago and every dip in the price of oil amounts to an increase in-crease in the price of natural gas. Further shrinking in the competitive leeway for boosts in natural gas prices appears to lie directly ahead. And that could split the opposition to the President's deregulation plan. BUT THAT opposition is numerically strong, especially in the heavy gas-consuming areas of the Northeast and Midwest and it has the support of a number of consumer organizations orga-nizations who are not sold on the idea that deregulation may help consumers in the end. Foes of the Reagan plan argue that his primary purpose is to decontrol "old gas" (that flowing from wells that have been in production since before be-fore April 1977). That, all by itself, is an issue on which emotions run high on Capitol Hill. SENATE AND House committees com-mittees have already held some hearings on the Reagan plan and other natural gas matters, mat-ters, and it is apparent that the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee favors the White House measure in the main. In the House, however, committee consensus will be much harder to obtain and it could take many weeks, even several months, before a decision deci-sion is reached and that could go against the President. So the outlook for natural gas decontrol de-control is still only a shade brighter. In the end, Congress . may not be able to agree at all, at least in 1983. |
