Senators rejected President George W. Bush's proposal to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, the centerpiece of the White House's national energy plan.

The House bill would allow drilling in the wildlife refuge area and has a $33 billion package of energy tax credits and subsidies, more than double the amount in the Senate legislation. The House bill also pushes more oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power with less attention to alternative fuels and conservation.

Senate and House negotiators are expected to spend months trying to work out differences in the two energy bills. It remains unclear if lawmakers can agree this year on a final energy package that can be sent to the White House.

The Bush administration has refused to say if it would veto a bill that did not give oil firms access to the Arctic refuge.

Following the Senate vote, President Bush issued a statement saying each of the Senate and House bills had elements of his administration's national energy plan.

"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.

Republican Frank Murkowski of Alaska told his Senate colleagues the energy bill was "something we can be proud of." However, he admitted that reconciling the Senate and House bills would be a "difficult" process.

Both chambers left untouched fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles and trucks that were first established in the mid-1970s, despite pleas from environmental groups and some Democrats for stricter mileage requirements to reduce oil use.

GREEN GROUPS SLAM BILL

Environmentalists and consumer groups criticized the Senate bill, arguing it protected outdated energy sources like oil and coal and did not do enough to encourage new energy supplies.

Some expressed concern that the worst was yet to come.

"There is a real danger that House and Senate negotiators may pick the worst provisions of each bill - and that would be a disaster for consumers," said Adam Goldberg, a policy analyst at Consumers Union,

"Congress should go back to the drawing board," said Anna Aurilio, legislative director in the national lobbying office for the State Public Interest Research Groups.

The Senate bill would increase the amount of electricity generated from renewable energy sources like the sun and the wind to 10 percent by 2020 - from the current 2 percent.

Another provision would give billions of dollars in federal loan guarantees to build a pipeline to ship natural gas from Alaska to the lower 48 states.

The Senate's $14 billion tax package included incentives for energy-efficient homes and appliances, credits for technology to make coal burn more cleanly, and credits for shale oil and coalbed methane.

Democrat Majority Whip Harry Reid of Nevada said the tax incentives contained in the bill were able to win its eventual passage - pointing to oil production subsidies supported by Republicans and renewable energy credits pushed by Democrats.

VEHICLE FUEL PLAN REJECTED

The Senate spent six weeks debating energy legislation, with lawmakers working up to the last minute trying to modify the bill.

During the final hours of debate, the Senate killed a bipartisan plan to reduce foreign oil imports by cutting the amount of oil used in U.S. cars and trucks by 1 million barrels per day by 2015.

The Senate also rejected a move by California lawmakers to delay tough new requirements for more ethanol use.

The bill calls for boosting the amount of corn-based ethanol blended into gasoline to 5 billion gallons annually by 2012 from the current 1.5 billion gallons a year