One exception, Mr. Franks says, is the vote cited by Mr. Corzine on pipeline safety standards.
Between 2004 and 2009, liquid pipeline operators spent some $2.7 billion on pipeline integrity management.
Similarly, oil companies could theoretically replicate rat whiskers on pipeline inspection tools as a way to test for holes or corrosion in oil pipelines.
A6 Bolivia Quandary on Pipeline Foreign investors are ready to spend billions to drill and export newly discovered natural gas from Bolivia.
That legislation passed unanimously in the Senate but failed in the House, in part because some safety advocates said it was not tough enough on pipeline operators.
The House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials has scheduled the first Congressional hearing on the spill and on pipeline safety for Thursday.
Other European countries have imposed more demanding gas-auction requirements, and the concession on pipeline access is minor.Might the election affect the outcome?
The saga of Charles Bedaux, a French-born millionaire who worked with the Germans on pipeline and railway projects in French Africa, culminates in the suicide note he composed after being charged with treason.
He called for a "hemispheric" energy policy, exploration for natural gas in Western states, a review of policies on pipeline construction and development of coal reserves as well as investment in clean-coal technology.
At the same time, the Bush administration has suggested loosening regulations on pipeline operators as part of a national energy policy, though it has not specified how it plans to ease those regulations.
But his strategy still relies mainly on increasing supply, including uncontroversial ideas like streamlining regulatory restrictions on pipeline construction and hugely controversial ideas like opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
