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too willing to move in their direction," Mr. Blackwelder said in a statement. "The result is that the two most positive provisions of the energy bill - a clean energy mandate and a tax package reining in handouts for fossil fuels and promoting clean energy - are being removed, while detrimental provisions, such as a radical five-fold increase in unsustainable biofuel use, remain."
Separately, Congress reached a tentative agreement on a major energy package that it plans to enact outside the energy bill, according to a Senate Democratic staff member. The agreement, to be included in a broad government spending bill, would authorize the Energy Department to guarantee loans for various energy projects, making financing far easier.
The agreement would guarantee loans of up to $25 billion for new nuclear plants and $2 billion for a uranium enrichment plant, something those industries had been avidly seeking. It would also provide guarantees of up to $10 billion for renewable energy projects, $10 billion for plants to turn coal into liquid vehicle fuel and $2 billion to turn coal into natural gas.
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