Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, has proposed adding three items to an energy bill already approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that includes a national renewable energy standard, a provision that could put oil and gas drilling closer to Florida's Gulf Coast and energy production incentives, reported Environment and Energy Daily. The proposal he and other lawmakers have been working on includes limiting GHG emissions from power plants, new financial incentives for the nuclear power industry and carbon capture and sequestration.
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., has partnered with Voinovich on a possible version of the electric utility-only "four pollutant approach that was once a central point of the legislative debate over global warming during the early years of the George W. Bush administration," the publication reported.
Limiting CO2, NOx, SO2 and mercury and dealing only with power plant emissions, combined with an energy efficiency mandate for building and stronger corporate fuel economy standards, could pass the Senate if an economy-wide emissions reduction program cannot get the 60 votes needed to end an anticipated Republican filibuster, said aides to Lugar.
Voinovich said he was working with Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., on increasing funding for carbon capture and sequestration technology at coal-based power plants and with Sen. Joe Lieberman, IN-Conn., on the expansion of nuclear generation.