The Energy Information Administration has received a detailed enough version of the climate-change legislation Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., were working on to begin its analysis of the bill, Reuters reported. EIA spokesman Jonathan Cogan was quoted as saying: "We received details. It's not a copy of legislation, but it was specific enough to allow us to go forward with our modeling efforts."
Kerry said the bill was released to agencies for analysis despite the delay in its official release caused by Graham's withdrawal from final negotiations last weekend. Kerry's move could help speed up lawmakers' work on the legislation when it finally reaches the Senate floor, possibly in July, said Reuters. The Congressional Budget Office is expected to analyze the bill also.
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, has called for an ongoing analysis of the anticipated costs of the Senate climate and energy legislation, E&E News PM reported. Voinovich said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.: "Modeling of similarly styled proposals shows us that the policy options that may be employed to regulate various sectors of the economy are sufficiently intertwined that even small changes to the bill can have significant effects on other regulated sectors and the cumulative economic impacts."
EPA and the Energy Information Administration estimated their work would take up to eight weeks unless the Senate asked for additional modeling to analyze changes in the legislation. Voinovich asked that EPA and EIA also analyze the cumulative impacts from state and regional GHG programs as well as from federal statutes that would not be pre-empted by the legislation and for an analysis of the cost of implementing federal climate policy using existing laws. Supporters of Voinovich's requests include Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sens. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine.
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