Sen. Lieberman Gives Climate Bill Minimal Chance in 2010

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said there was a minimal chance for cap-and-trade climate change legislation to move in the Senate in the rest of 2010, E&E News PM reported. Although Lieberman said "there's certainly long-term life" for the proposal, "for the short term, it's standing in place." He noted the possibility of having it "come back in some form during the lame-duck session," but acknowledged that the legislation would still require a 60-vote majority to clear a filibuster.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., predicted the Republican Party would "make significant gains" in the November election, and he indicated that its members would resist any attempt to pass a climate bill before the new Congress. Looking ahead to that Congress, Lieberman predicted that industry "may well be so upset by EPA regulation [of GHG emissions] that they'll come to Congress regardless of the party allocation in Congress and really plead for a legislative response that is more balanced and longer term so they have predictability in what they do."

Sen. Reid Introduces Energy Bill Without Climate Provisions

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has introduced energy legislation that included oil spill liability provisions and $5 billion for the Home Star energy-efficiency program but failed to propose any climate change policies, Reuters reported.

Reid acknowledged that "this bill does not address every issue of importance to our nation's energy challenges, and we have to continue to work to find bipartisan agreement on a comprehensive bill to help reduce pollution and deal with the very real threat that global warming poses."

An informal Time magazine poll of Senate staffers found a majority did not expect the Senate to pass the bill before the August recess. Utilities and environmentalists continued work on principles for utility-only GHG emissions limits, with Duke Energy, Exelon and Dominion Resources taking part in a working group for negotiations, ClimateWire reported. Exelon Senior VP David Brown said the group was "focused on getting something done this year" and will continue working for climate change legislation. Brown predicted that after 2010, "the politics probably don't improve" on the issue, and yet "the urgency to get some clarity for the utility industry only increases."

President Obama was quoted as saying of Reid's bill: "I want to emphasize it's only the first step and I intend to keep pushing for broader reform, including climate legislation."

- Related stories appeared in the Dallas Morning News, Associated Press, and Los Angeles Times.

Blame Game Dominates Editorials About Energy Bills

Editorials on the Senate's failure to produce a comprehensive energy bill sought to pin the blame on both parties. The Dallas Morning News wrote today in an editorial: "Heaping blame on Republicans in this case is easy and reasonably justified. But Democrats managed to hammer a few of their own nails in the coffin of a comprehensive energy bill."

Senate Majority Harry Reid, D-Nev., "couldn't bring himself to put passing this legislation at the top of his to-do list." The five keys to a good energy bill, the Morning News wrote, included: a meaningful cap on GHGs that divides the costs between consumers and polluters; aggressive mandates for renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar; a clear path for a new generation of nuclear power plants; requirements for automakers to increase fuel efficiency and improve emissions controls; and a road map for utilities to better develop a smart grid that reduces energy consumption.

The Bangor Daily News wrote today in an editorial that Reid was "more concerned about his re-election than legislation to reduce America’s dependence on oil from volatile and hostile parts of the world. Republicans are more interested in defeating Democratic ideas than providing businesses with a predictable energy future. The White House was content to let Democratic leaders craft and shepherd legislation through Congress to deal with energy and climate change and never got involved, even when it was clear that direction and support were needed."

However, the Salt Lake Tribune posed, in an editorial published today, a different point: "When are Republicans in Congress, particularly in the Senate, going to accept responsibility for failing to deal with climate change and its potentially devastating effects, a looming catastrophe caused primarily by the United States' gluttony for fossil fuels?"

The Charleston Post and Courier wrote in an editorial that America's "long-term energy prices are bound to soar even higher if we don't intensify our efforts to develop alternative energy and conserve fuel and electric power."

Sen. Lugar Proposes New Energy Bill With No Cap-and-Trade System

Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have introduced energy legislation that would promote energy efficiency, provide loan guarantees worth $54 billion for new nuclear construction, devise a national renewable energy standard wherein nuclear generation and CCS would be considered renewables and require setting motor vehicle fuel-efficiency standards, E&E News PM reported. Lugar was quoted as saying: "It is time to recast the debate in Congress and match priorities with a practical alternative."

According to Lugar, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the legislation would cut dependence on foreign oil by 40 percent and reduce emissions by more than 1.6 billion tons, UPI Energy reported, quoting Lugar as saying: "It targets our dangerous oil addiction by maximizing fuel savings in transportation and increasing domestic production of fossil and bio-based fuels."

Energy Secretary Steven Chu praised the Republican bill, called the Practical Energy and Climate Plan Act of 2010, for its emphasis on energy efficiency, but continued to push for a cap-and-trade system, Environment & Energy Daily reported. Chu was quoted as saying: "I continue to believe that to fully capitalize on these opportunities we need comprehensive legislation that puts a price on carbon and makes clean energy the profitable kind of energy."

Graham said Lugar's bill could possibly get 60 votes in the Senate because it did not cap emissions or expand offshore drilling, Bloomberg reported. The Union of Concerned Scientists criticized the proposal because it would "fail to cut global warming emissions to the level scientists say is necessary to avoid the worst of consequences of climate change," while Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, called it "amnesty for big polluters."

Senate Rejects Sen. Murkowski Resolution by 47-53 Margin

The Senate resolution to block EPA from developing GHG emissions limits failed by a 47-53 Senate vote, the New York Times reported. The resolution, sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, had support from all 41 Republicans, as well as six Democrats.

Sens. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., and Joseph I. Lieberman, ID-Conn., stated that "the Senate made the right decision today but the big question" was will senators act on climate change. They expressed hopes that senators who said Congress and not the EPA should address climate change "will now engage with us." The six Democrats who crossed over were Evan Bayh of Indiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

Bloomberg reported that Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said the vote indicated the Senate will take up a bill "much different" from the House cap-and-trade bill with a focus on "energy and clean-energy jobs." Kevin Book, an energy analyst at ClearView Energy Partners, said the vote indicated the potential for Republicans and Democrats from coal states to advance a "pro-drilling, pro-safety compromise" energy bill that included "even greater provisions on behalf of their constituents."

President Obama stated: "Today's vote is yet another reminder of the urgent need to pass legislation that would help America transition to a 21st century clean energy economy that would create jobs, strengthen our national security, and protect our environment for our children."

Options Abound as Democrats Struggle to Craft Climate-Energy Bill

Democrats hoping to pass climate change legislation through the Senate were using elements from a variety of proposals in the hope of gaining a 60-vote majority, Greenwire reported. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said "there's enough in each" of the proposals to put together "a serious and comprehensive energy bill" that will pass in 2010.

Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Steven Chu welcomed another energy bill backed by Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Reuters reported. In a letter to Lugar, Chu wrote: "In particular, I appreciate your ideas for reducing America's oil dependence--which has taken on greater urgency as a result of the BP oil spill."

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she expected Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to introduce his own bill as an alternative to the Kerry-Lieberman proposal. Reid was to meet with committee leaders today to begin devising a strategy, with a Democratic caucus to follow next week.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., contended that introducing his proposal as a bill amendment was "wrong as a matter of policy and what's best for the country," and he called for it to instead "be at the center of the arena" as its own bill. Lieberman and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., objected to a cap-and-trade program that would apply only to utilities, with Lieberman arguing that "the moment is right for comprehensive legislation."

Brian Wolff, EEI senior VP of external affairs, was quoted by Greenwire as saying: "What you have is everybody right now is just throwing everything on the table."

Related story also appeared in Bloomberg via BusinessWeek.

Senate to Vote Today on Sen. Murkowski's EPA Resolution

The Senate was scheduled to vote today on the resolution from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to block EPA regulation of GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., predicted the resolution will be rejected, but added that "you never know until the vote takes place." Murkowski called the potential EPA regulation "an overreach by the executive branch" as the Obama administration threatened to veto her resolution if it passed the Senate.

Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and John Thune, R-S.D., criticized the administration for what Alexander called a bid by "an unelected group of bureaucrats" to regulate GHG emissions. Sen. John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., said he will support the resolution because "the fate of West Virginia's economy, our manufacturing industries, and our workers should not be solely in the hands of EPA." Among those saying they would vote against the resolution, ClimateWire reported, were Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

Former EPA Associate General Counsel Lee DeHihns was quoted as saying of the resolution's impact: "The mood is getting really nasty. The resolution may polarize the Senate even further such that whatever support the moderates had may get diluted by the harsh feelings that are set up by this vote."

- Related story also appeared in The Hill.

Sen. Lugar Readies New Climate/Energy Bill Without Cap & Trade

Sen. Richard G. Lugar, R-Ind., plans to introduce new energy and climate legislation next week that is focused on cutting power plant emissions associated with GHGs, Reuters reported. The goal of the Lugar bill would be to "achieve about half of the 17 percent cut from 2005 levels in carbon emissions by 2020 proposed" by President Obama. The newswire said that for "heavy-polluting coal-fired power plants, they would be excused from investing in expensive scrubbers over the next few years and in return would voluntarily retire the plants in 2020."

Wrote Reuters: "Absent from Lugar's bill will be any new cap and trade system for carbon pollution permits, an idea that anchors climate change legislation passed nearly a year ago by the House of Representatives and included in a draft bill presented by senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman on May 12."

Key Senators Might Unveil Latest Climate Change Bill Within Days

Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joseph Lieberman, ID-Conn., may unveil their revamped climate change bill early in the week, Reuters reported. Aides to the senators spent the two-week Easter recess working on the legislation, which will feature the goal of cutting 2005 GHG emissions levels 17 percent by 2020. A Senate source added: "We are working to address and reconcile all of the concerns raised by particular members about particular provisions."

Wrote Reuters: "Kerry is being hit with an array of other competing concerns: Industry wants the federal legislation to pre-empt state climate control efforts and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulation, an idea many state officials oppose. A dizzying number of other concerns were still being addressed too, according to government and private-sector sources. They include how oil industry tax revenues would be used, how pollution permits would be allocated to utilities and the shape of a border tax to protect steelmakers and other energy-intensive industries from unfair foreign competition."

L.A. Times Examines Efforts to Craft Senate Compromise on Climate

The Los Angeles Times today examined how Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, has emerged as a key player in the determination by the Senate to come up with an acceptable climate bill that "would put new limits on greenhouse gas emissions and spur production of renewable energy." Wrote the Times: "Surprising as it may seem, the heart of those senators' strategy is to woo special interests--major electric utilities, steel and cement producers, farmers and coal and oil companies."

Brown was quoted as saying: "I know, it doesn't sound like me. I really do think this is different. I think people understand that if industry doesn't--if this doesn't work for them, if this doesn't keep them in business ... it hurts the country."

For example, the Times noted: "In the case of efforts to craft a climate bill, business support is deemed so crucial that, before meeting with President Obama and some swing-vote senators at the White House last week, the bill's architects sat down with a group of industry lobbyists ... . In blunt terms, the senators asked the lobbyists what the bill needed to say to receive industry backing."