President to Hold Bipartisan Meeting Today on Climate, Energy

The Wall Street Journal today reported that Congressional Democrats are looking to use a bipartisan meeting with President Obama on Tuesday to leverage a clear solution to energy and climate efforts on Capitol Hill.

Energy & Environment reported today that even if the Senate passed a watered-down version of climate and energy legislation before the mid-term elections, the House-Senate conference committee could end up revisiting everything, including a cap-and-trade program, during a subsequent lame duck session. Wrote the newsletter: "Even if they do not enact cap and trade, Democratic leaders could use a conference to ratchet up the climate regulations past what the Senate agreed to and beyond what Democratic House centrists want."

Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have expressed reservations about leaving so much work to the conferees. Sanders was quoted as saying: "Members of the Senate have their views as to what constitutes a strong bill, and they're going to want to be heard on this." The policies that could be radically revised during a conference, the newsletter reported, include oil spill liability, stricter drilling regulations, a renewable energy standard, sharing offshore drilling royalties with states, nuclear plant loan guarantees "and the big one -- a price on carbon."

A question that adds more uncertainty is what bill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., would bring to the Senate floor. One possibility is that he would add climate provisions to a legislative response to the oil spill on the assumption that the latter would have to pass or he could add the oil spill provisions to an energy-only bill. If Reid went with the latter strategy, it would present a problem for conservative Democrats who would rather vote on an energy bill after the elections, even though they might want to go home in November with a credible bill to stop future oils spills.

- Related story appeared in the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire.

EEI's Kuhn Says Consumer Protection Vital for Climate Legislation

EEI President Tom Kuhn said in a National Journal opinion piece that climate change and energy legislation must include "strong consumer protection measures" in order to win support. Kuhn noted that the House-passed bill included provisions to allocate GHG emissions permits to utilities "to help mitigate electricity price increases," and that design "proved an important concept around which many lawmakers rallied."

Kuhn pointed to the House example as a sign of the need for senators to also focus on consumer protection. Kuhn asked President Obama and senators to put protection "among the issues that top the agenda" at their meeting to discuss the bill. He praised the Kerry-Lieberman bill for allocating additional emissions permits for utilities and adopting "a hard price collar" for permits. Kuhn said that EEI was continuing its effort "to develop workable legislation that will combat climate change while also safeguarding the nation’s continued economic well-being."