WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — Senate and House Republicans reached agreement today on energy legislation intended to increase domestic production and make transmission networks more reliable.
Details of the accord are still not complete, but the two Republicans who led the negotiations, Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico and Representative Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, said the language would be posted at noon on Saturday on their panels' Web sites, http://energy.senate.gov and http://energycommerce.house.gov.
Mr. Domenici told reporters this afternoon that the negotiations had been "a most difficult, difficult job" and that he hoped the legislations could be passed by both houses next week.
Mr. Tauzin said the legislation "s going to make a difference in American families' lives."
The final package does not call for drilling for oil in parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Alaskan wilderness. President Bush and some of his Republican allies asserted early on that the drilling could be done without serious harm to the environment, but many Democrats and some Republicans have opposed the idea.
Negotiations on the package have dragged on for weeks over a variety of issues: tax incentives for ethanol use, for the nuclear and coal industries, and some local projects dear to certain important lawmakers.
Tax credits for the use of corn-based ethanol as a gasoline additive are a high priority in farm states, and the final package is all but sure to contain some of those credits. Exactly how much in tax credits for ethanol use and other concepts was not immediately clear.
Since the Republicans have majorities in both houses, they are likely to prevail on most of their ideas, though the legislation will face some challenges when Democrats weigh in.
One Democrat, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, immediately objected to the package. "This bill should be stopped in whatever way possible and I will be checking with my colleagues to see if we have the support to do so," he said in a statement. "This is a grab bag of goodies for special interests at a time when we desperately need a comprehensive energy policy to deal with the very real energy problems our nation faces."
Still, the agreement will probably be greeted with relief by the White House and by lawmakers in both parties. Some kind of comprehensive approach to energy has been a high priority since last summer's power failures over wide sections of the Northeast and Midwest exposed the vulnerability of transmission networks.
"We need to have a bill," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in a speech this week, "and getting that bill — even if it's not perfect — through the finish line is our priority."
The accord announced today was not a total surprise. Lawmakers and aides involved in the negotiations said earlier this week that they believed the remaining sticking points could be disposed of in time for passage before Thanksgiving.
Nor is the current agreement likely to put an end to some of the more controversial aspects of energy policy. The White House refused today to foreclose the possibility of oil exploration in the Alaska wilderness.
"It's an important part of a comprehensive energy plan, and we continue to believe it should be part of a comprehensive energy plan," the chief White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said. "We recognize that there's always give and take in the legislative process."
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