Washington, D.C. – Senate Energy & Natural Resources Chairman Pete V. Domenici announced today a postponement of the energy conference tentatively scheduled for Friday. The energy conference will be rescheduled following the Senate recess next week. Chairman Domenici’s statement: “The Senate Finance Committee notified me today that negotiations with House Ways and Means Committee on the energy tax package will not be completed by Friday. This package is critical to our overall national energy policy. I am happy to give these very busy committees additional time to complete their work. “We are very close to final deals on ethanol, electricity and the Alaska natural gas pipeline. We were on track to finish those negotiations in time for conference meeting Friday. “However, in order to accommodate the tax-writing committees, we will reschedule an energy conference meeting for the third week of October, following next week’s Senate recess. “I welcome the extra time to resolve all the outstanding issues.” ###