Senate Passes Bill to Reduce Reliance on Imported Oil : Energy: The measure would promote nuclear power and alternative fuels. But controversial Arctic and vehicle mileage provisions are dropped.

The Senate on Wednesday night handily approved a comprehensive energy bill designed to reduce reliance on imported oil by promoting nuclear power, natural gas, alternative fuels and more efficient electrical products.

The vote was 94 to 4.

Sponsors removed from the massive bill two controversial sections that had blocked action on the measure last year. One, fought by environmentalists, called for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas exploration. The other, opposed by the auto industry, would have tightened fuel-economy requirements for cars and trucks.

Stymied for years by ideological, regional and partisan differences, the legislation is the first attempt in more than a decade to deal comprehensively with the nation’s growing energy problems.

Progress in the House has been slower, with a similar bill not slated for action by the Energy and Commerce Committee until spring.

The Senate bill outlines a host of ambitious measures, some similar to provisions of the National Energy Strategy proposed a year ago by the Bush Administration.

The Senate legislation would streamline the steps required to build new nuclear power plants. It would require millions of cars and trucks in commercial fleets to run on fuels other than gasoline. It would speed up federal approval of natural gas pipelines. And it would encourage new companies to generate electricity and compete with each other to produce low-cost power.

In one of its most contentious areas, the bill would allow the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to issue a single license for the construction and operation of nuclear power plants. Currently, a utility must obtain two licenses, the second only after construction is completed.

Opponents argue that one-step licensing would remove important safeguards by limiting public review of a plant’s safety standards before it goes into operation. But proponents contend that utilities will not invest in the construction of new nuclear plants unless they can know in advance that they will be able to operate them.

In a victory for the nuclear industry and the Administration, the Senate rejected an amendment that would have added safeguards to the licensing process.

Sen. J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), the bill’s manager, secured the votes of five normally pro-environment senators to defeat the amendment, which would have required a second public hearing if safety concerns arose before a plant began operating.

As the bill stands, only the NRC would have to certify that a plant is safe before it can begin generating electricity.

Environmentalists prevailed in other areas, winning adoption of two key amendments. One, sponsored by Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.), urges a faster phaseout of ozone-depleting chemicals. Another, offered by Sen. Timothy E. Wirth (D-Colo.), would conserve energy by increasing efficiency standards for electric motors and light bulbs.

Wirth estimated that the lighting and motor standards would save $25 billion in energy costs over the next 20 years and eliminate the need for 23 large power plants.

Many other provisions of the Senate measure would promote efficiency and the use of renewable fuels.

For example, solar-powered cells would be added to the list of alternative fuels permitted in vehicle fleets. The government would have to buy more high-efficiency motors. Commercial heating and air-conditioning equipment would have to be more efficient. And housing purchased with federally insured mortgages would be subject to efficiency standards.

The bill would prohibit awards of new offshore oil or gas leases until the year 2000 from New England to Georgia along the Atlantic Coast and along all of the Pacific Coast.

An amendment by Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) expanded an Administration moratorium on leasing that had covered only part of the California coast. The amendment would protect 87 tracts off the coast of San Luis Obispo County and in the Santa Monica Channel that could have been leased as early as 1996.

Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) was able to place some of the Florida coast off limits, but he was unable to prevent drilling for gas in the Gulf of Mexico south of Tallahassee.