"We're here to declare victory," said Senate Minority Leader Republican Trent Lott, accompanied by Energy Secretary Abraham Spencer, just before the vote.

"This was a monumental undertaking," Lott said on the floor minutes before the bill passed.

Senators overwhelmingly approved the legislation 88 to 11 to pass the slimmed down version of the comprehensive bill after Democratic lawmakers shot down the controversial proposal that would have opened a pristine Alaskan refuge to oil and gas exploration.

"We'll have other opportunities for that," predicted Senator Frank Murkowski who had led the charge to drill the in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, suggesting he would fight to reinsert the proposal in the bill.

Also gutted from the bill were Democrat-backed automobile fuel efficiency standards, a move much criticized by the environmental lobby.

The linchpin of the remaining bill is roughly 15 billion dollars worth of tax incentives designed to everything from improving air conditioning standards to boosting oil and gas production.

Before the bill can go to President George W. Bush's desk for him to sign it into law, it must first be balanced with a House version that passed that chamber last year. Republicans hope during that negotiating process to restore certain provisions gutted in the Senate bill.

Meanwhile, at the end of the six weeks of often-bitter wrangling that led up to the vote, Republicans were pleased they had managed to add a number of pro-business tax incentives and nuclear energy inducements.

"This is a major achievement for the American people," Lott said.

President George W. Bush's administration had strongly pushed for the energy bill, declaring it a national security priority. It was sorely disappointed by the decision to strip the bill of the ANWR drilling provision.

Nevertheless, the president said he was pleased that the House-Senate Conference Committee will have before it "the elements of a comprehensive energy policy."

"It is imperative that America increase its energy independence and I look forward to working with the conferees to ensure that we enact a balanced and comprehensive energy policy this year," Bush said in a statement released in Crawford, Texas.

Despite the overwhelming support for the bill, one of the Democrats against the bill blasted it for what he said was the proposal's lack of initiatives on conservation and renewable energy resources.

"This bill misses the mark completely," said Senator Charles Schumer shortly before the vote, explaining that he would not vote for what he said was "a bad bill".

"The country is crying out for meaningful conservation. This bill simply doesn't" provide for that, he said, adding that the legislation would likely "get worse" in conference.

Meanwhile, on the House side, a House panel on Thursday voted 41-6 to clear the way for a bill declaring Nevada's Yucca Mountain a permanent repository for the nation's nuclear waste.

"This makes sense from a national security perspective," said Spencer, who said the legislation was critical for the future of US nuclear energy, which currently supplies some 20 percent of the nation's energy needs.

Spencer predicted the bill would be voted on by the full House next month.

All rights reserved. � 2002 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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