Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., John F. Kerry, D-Mass., and Joseph I. Lieberman, ID-Conn., were said to have abandoned plans to include cap-and-trade in their climate bill, the Washington Post reported. Sources said Graham told environmentalists that "cap-and-trade is dead." The three senators instead plan to introduce legislation that would apply sector-specific emissions limits for utilities, transportation and industry. The cap on utility emissions would become tighter in coming years.
The bill is expected to propose aid for building new nuclear plants and carbon capture and sequestration for coal-based plants. Lieberman was quoted as saying: "This is a different bill. We haven't abandoned the market-based idea, but we're willing to negotiate with colleagues who have different ideas."
Environment and Energy Daily reported that the trio of senators is focused on developing legislation that will "pave the way toward 60 votes." Kerry spokeswoman Jodi Seth said, "Dozens of meetings and scores of decisions and negotiations still have to happen before anyone knows what a bill would look like, but every day we are making progress."
- Related stories also appeared in the Associated Press and Reuters.
