By Coral Davenport
July 23, 2010
SENATE PULLS PLUG ON ENERGY/CLIMATE BILL. HERE’S HOW IT FELL APART – “It would seem the stars had been aligned like never before for climate legislation. But by Thursday, the White House’s biggest energy and environmental initiative sat in tatters, relegated to an unknown election-year abyss after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he didn’t yet have 60 votes and would instead move to the lowest hanging energy fruit. Exactly when the Senate legislation came apart will now be open to historical interpretation – but the blame game has already begun.” http://politi.co/aZbpan
JOIN THE DEBATE – In Energy Arena, POLITICO asks: How have the political fortunes of Govs. Haley Barbour, Bobby Jindal and Charlie Crist been affected by the Gulf oil spill? Have they helped or hurt their chances for higher office? Join the conversation at: http://www.politico.com/arena/energy/
Good Friday morning and welcome to Morning Energy, and the aftermath of yet another failed Senate climate change bill – the chance many advocates say was the last, best shot of getting a bill through for the foreseeable future. What comes next? Email thoughts on the new climate landscape to cdavenport@politico.com
AMERICA PUNTS ON CLIMATE; CHINA ACTS – Chinese officials have decided to move ahead with a carbon cap-and-trade system. http://bit.ly/duKY4A
FINGER-POINTING – No surprise that Ds blame Rs, Rs point to Ds’ fractured caucus, advocates blame election-year timeline and chide Obama for not pushing the issue. But here’s a new one: White House blames enviros: As Darren reports, ” One exasperated administration official on Thursday lambasted the environmentalists – led by the Environmental Defense Fund – for failing to effectively lobby GOP senators. ‘They didn’t deliver a single Republican,’ the official told POLITICO. ‘They spent like $100 million and they weren’t able to get a single Republican convert on the bill.'”
THE BILL THAT WILL go to the floor: will have at its core a package of provisions aimed at tightening offshore drilling safety regulations and codifying the restructuring of the Interior Department, plus the Home Star building efficiency program, a clutch of provisions to boost natural gas vehicles, and full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Each of these pieces has already moved through committee or been co-sponsored with bipartisan support, and none represent a major change in energy policy — so it’s expected the package as a whole will move through fairly quickly. Final details aren’t yet available – Reid’s staff will spend the weekend stitching together pieces from the existing bills, and we’re told reporters will be briefed on the final product on Monday.
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STILL NOT GIVING UP – At least in spirit, are disappointed Senate Democrats. It’s no surprise that the ever-passionate Kerry and dogged Joe Lieberman say they refuse to give up the ghost on climate – both now characterize Reid’s dumping of climate as a new time window to win over electric utilities before bringing up a power-plant-only bill this fall. But even Midwestern and coal-state moderates like Ohio’s Sherrod Brown and Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey said they want to keep pushing, despite the odds. “I think a lot of people are disappointed. But we still have time this summer to keep working and lining up votes, and September as well, and we just have to keep working,” Casey tells Morning Energy. “What the leader has proposed is a series of important steps but I think it’s still only one chapter. We’ve got some bigger chapters to go and we’ve got to work to try to get the votes, work with the White House, work to get votes on the other side. Š One thing we can’t do is let this be the end of the discussion. None of us will accept that. We’re still going to do awful lot of climate and energy work between now and [August recess]. The leader can go though the bill he’s got but we’re going to work on this. I don’t see that as starting in September.”
GLIMMER OF HOPE? – The Hill reports on a July 19 draft outline of agreement on key points between utilities and major environmental groups, whose earlier failure to reach a compromise had seemed to doom prospects for a bill. http://bit.ly/9Xdfrv
MORE PAINFUL IRONY – A staffer notes that one of the biggest losers in Thursday’s news was John Kerry, who over the past year has devoted untold hours and effort to the cause of a climate change bill, only to see it thrown under the bus in the face of midterm elections. One of Thursday’s biggest winners: T. Boone Pickens, the oil magnate who financed the Swift Boat ads during Kerry’s presidential campaign. As he worked to build support for his climate bill, Kerry made a tremendous diplomatic gesture in reaching out to Pickens, and promised to include pieces of the “Pickens Plan” to promote natural gas-fueled vehicles in a comprehensive climate change bill. In the end, Reid jettisoned the big energy and climate package, and instead will offer a narrow spill bill bundled with cherry-picked energy provisions – including pieces of the Pickens Plan. So Pickens’ provisions are slated to move through the Senate with relative ease next week – on a bill sponsored by the Senate Majority Leader, no less – while the work Kerry staked his political comeback on molders on the cutting-room floor.
NEW BATTLEGROUND: RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY – Groups on both sides of the debate tell Morning Energy that while the fight for carbon caps seems lost for the year, they’re still marshalling their forces to debate the other key energy policy dumped from the package: the renewable electricity standard. Renewable power companies are now lobbying Democrats to introduce Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s 15 percent standard as a floor amendment to the spill bill next week. “It is incredibly urgent for the industry, the head of a major U.S. renewable energy company tells Morning Energy. “We believe we have 60 votes for that, probably more.” It remains to be seen whether Reid will even allow amendments to be offered next week. But a fossil-fuel lobbyist tells Morning Energy that if it doesn’t come up next week, their industry is gearing up to fight it in the fall. Meanwhile, a former Senate Democratic aide closely involved in the climate negotiations says that if Dems are willing to be flexible on the definition of the electricity standard – allowing clean coal and possibly nuclear energy to count under the mandate, which Republicans such as Richard Lugar and Lindsey Graham support -there could still be room for a compromise bill this fall. “In the shadow of the ballot box, it’s either a bigger tent or fold up tent,” said the former aide.
SPILL SITE EVACUATED AS TROPICAL STORM BONNIE APPROACHES – From Thad Allen at midnight: “Due to the risk that Tropical Storm Bonnie poses to the safety of the nearly 2,000 people responding to the BP oil spill at the well site, many of the vessels and rigs will be preparing to move out of harm’s way beginning tonight. This includes the rig drilling the relief well that will ultimately kill the well, as well as other vessels needed for containment. Some of the vessels may be able to remain on site, but we will err on the side of safety Š While these actions may delay the effort to kill the well for several days, the safety of the individuals at the well site is our highest concern. We are staging our skimming vessels and other assets in a manner that will allow us to promptly re-start oil mitigation efforts as soon as the storm passes and we can ensure the safety of our personnel.”
SALAZAR PLEDGES TO LIMIT INTERIOR’S REVOLVING DOOR – WaPo reports: “Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told lawmakers Thursday that he will use his regulatory authority to impose strict new rules to remedy the revolving-door problems in his department Š His statement came after Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) asked about a Washington Post article that reported that dozens of former Interior officials had crossed over into the oil industry and that three out of four industry lobbyists had once worked for the federal government. The rate is more than double the norm in Washington, where industries recruit about 30 percent of their lobbyists from the government, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. With more than 600 registered lobbyists, the industry has among the biggest and most powerful contingents in Washington, The Post reported.” http://bit.ly/bmLmkx
HOUSE PANEL VOTES TO HALT OFFSHORE DRILLING LEASING – And to boost funds for climate change research. CQ story: http://bit.ly/9awnbH
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Special thanks to Richard Charter
