The Administration
Sorry, but "the Administration" has little to do with the energy bill, and President Bush has serious issues with large sections of the bill. However, it is a Republican creation so Bush cannot veto it.
The reason why the bill is failing has little to do overall with the MTBE provision. It is a Democratic rouse intended to blame the Republican for the bill's failure and still get their share of bacon too. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, the farm belt Dem who got greasy with the ethanol provisions, and other key Democratic figures are even pushing the bill. This leaves everybody in an interesting position. The Dems voting against the bill cannot blame farm-called-energy subsidies because that would be attacking one of their own, just like how Bush cannot veto the bill for similar reasons. That means the Dems need to find a provision written and pushed by Republicans. Daschle and the other Dems have pointed as Majority Leader Tom Delay, effectively saying that all their grease was fine but his pork was going too far.
The bill is failing because a small bipartisan group (basically McCain, some Dems, and a few New England Repubs) is standing up against it on principle, but the legislation is also in danger if dying because a group of Dems feel that they didn't get their fair share of kickbacks and preferences. The word is that they are getting closer to passage by just bribing off the few that are left. I've seen people refer to "Republican arm-twisting" to get this bill thought. Nothing could be further from the truth. If they were arm-twisting they would be preventing more provision from going into other bills to get passage of this one, however, they are doing the oppisite and applying so much grease that the Senate will smell like bacon for the entire next year.
Yet another example...
Why in the world would our Congress spend so much time debating product liability, and spend so much time crafting laws which embed shielding for specific companies and practices? This reminds me of the shielding pharma companies received through a clause in the so-called "Patriot" act. Why would Congress, supposedly debating our sources of "energy" in the coming decades, be so concerned about specific companies and lawsuits against them for pollution?
Oh yeah, I forgot. Congress is in the pockets of these massive corporations, and pass the bills which they are told to pass.
I say, fire them all, and get some people in there who won't pass bills which say "company X can't be sued for dumping chemical Z into the groundwater". Citizens of states where the supporters of this bill are elected should take steps to remove them from office.