National Journal columnist Ronald Brownstein said President Obama and the three senators readying a compromise energy bill--Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn.--"are making extraordinary efforts to address the concerns of energy interests and legislative moderates on both sides who have resisted action on climate. If those incentives can't break the logjam, the result could be a sustained stalemate that prevents the United States from advancing in any direction on energy."
The "grand bargain" the trio is work on features "more incentives for nuclear power and greater domestic production of oil and gas in return for limits on the carbon emissions linked to climate change." If this version of climate and energy legislation does not make it through Congress, Brownstein wrote, "stalemate would force more-severe carbon-emission reductions later on. It would also shroud the energy sector in uncertainty. That could especially hurt the utility industry." Duke Energy Chairman, President and CEO James Rogers was quoted as saying: "If you are going to modernize the fleet, you want to know what the carbon regime is."
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