Hatch lashed out at Democrats for trying to “beat up on the big old oil companies,” and scolded minority party members for standing in the way of new energy development, then complaining about high oil prices.

“Come on, America. Wake up! I'm sick of it,” Hatch shouted.

An amendment proposed by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., would require oil companies to invest their profits to develop new resources or pay a tax on oil sold at more than $40 a barrel. The revenues would be used to provide relief to families dealing with high oil prices.

“Don't say you're somehow on the side of the consumer if your interest is to come here on the floor of the Senate and stand with the big oil companies,” Dorgan said.

Dorgan and Hatch had a particularly heated exchange after Dorgan offered to correct all of the mistakes in Hatch's speech, but said it would take all 20 minutes of the North Dakota senator's allotted time. Hatch reacted angrily and the two were cut off by the presiding officer.

“I'm somewhat stunned when my friend and colleague from Utah becomes so exercised about the profits of the” oil industry, Dorgan said. “I question if my colleague has even read the amendment.”

The Senate adjourned Wednesday night before voting on the Dorgan amendment; it is not expected to pass.

The major oil companies posted record profits in the third quarter as prices surged to more than $60 a barrel. The five largest oil companies increased their earnings by nearly $33 billion during the last 12 weeks, according to their earnings reports.

But Hatch said cutting into oil company earnings means less money to develop new resources, such as an estimated 1 trillion barrels of recoverable oil trapped in the oil shale in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.

Hatch said he spoke with a major oil executive on Tuesday who said it would take $124 billion to extract the oil from the rock. That money will have to come from the money the oil companies are now earning, Hatch said.

“I think it's very unfair to come on this floor and . . . brand all these oil companies as anti-patriotic companies,” Hatch seethed.

Hatch then hammered environmental groups he says are blocking domestic oil production and President Clinton for his 1997 designation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which Hatch contends locked up huge amounts of clean-burning coal.

“We've gone so far to the left-wing extremists that we can't develop our own resources in an environmentally friendly way,” Hatch said.

According to figures from the Bureau of Land Management, oil companies have been given permits to drill at a record pace. More than 6,000 drilling permits were approved in the 2004 budget year, roughly double the number approved four years earlier.

Hatch has received $97,500 in campaign contributions from oil and gas companies since 1999, according to numbers compiled by The Center For Responsive Politics. The amount is relatively low compared to other senators.