Washington, D.C. - Senate Energy & Natural Resources Chairman Pete V. Domenici announced plans today to strip the MTBE safe harbor provision from a leaner energy bill before offering it on the floor later this month as an amendment to a larger bill. "I have informed Chairman Tauzin and House leadership of my intentions. They aren't particularly happy about it, but I believe stripping MTBE out is necessary to get this bill through the Senate," Chairman Domenici said. Domenici outlined plans to reduce the overall cost of the bill before sending it to the floor this month. Most of the cuts will come from tax incentives, he said. Those are the bulk of the provisions that score under Congressional Budget Office guidelines. However, a budget point of order is unavoidable on the electricity reliability provision. "The energy bill's allocation for FY04 is zero, but Congress must take some action to this year to address electricity," Chairman Domenici said. "On this vital issue, a budget point of order is inevitable. However, the cost of this provision will be completely offset by fees charged to power companies to implement the program. However, for technical reasons, the provision will still be subject to a point of order. With that exception, the leaner bill, to be offered as an amendment, will be within the allocation provided for the energy bill, Domenici said.