Hill Heat

Numerous Democrats are voicing opposition to acting on climate change.

Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)

The Hill “We’ve got all kinds of difference of perspective of where the Senate is and where the votes are and where the Senate should try to move,” Bingaman said of his meeting with the other chairmen. Bingaman, the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said he would be willing to pass energy legislation separately from a cap-and-trade bill to address climate change.

E&E News It’s pretty clear that there seems to be a developing consensus that we want a more flexible opportunity for all countries to achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions. The idea that the only test of a country’s ability to achieve greenhouse gas reductions is whether they adopt a formal cap is just not necessarily the appropriate measure.

Barbara Boxer (D-CA)

The Hill “I’d love to get it done tomorrow,” said Boxer, who acknowledged others are less intent on moving that quickly.

Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

The Hill “I’m not in a hurry to do that,” she said of climate change legislation. “I think the energy bill we did in the Senate Energy Committee gets us a long way toward job creation and moving us from an old-energy economy to a new-energy economy, which is really what the objective is — lowering carbon output and lessening dependence on foreign oil.”

Claire McCaskill (R-MO)

Wall Street Journal It’s really big, really, really hard, and is going to make a lot of people mad. Climate fits that category.

Jeff Merkley (D-OR)

Politico There are folks who would say, ‘Well, let’s just shut down coal-powered plants.’ That is not going to happen. You are not going to have 60 votes in the Senate to shut down coal.

John McCain (R-AZ)

Wall Street Journal The delay was “just a matter of reality, they can’t get anything done at this time,” said Sen. John McCain, who has previously supported climate legislation. He has said he wouldn’t support the current Senate proposal because of disagreements over its handling of nuclear energy.

Lisa Murkowski (D-AK)

E&E News You know what, we’d get blamed at Copenhagen if we acted or if we didn’t act. It is what it is.

We’re obviously not going to be doing that [passing a climate bill] prior to Copenhagen. Do we walk into Copenhagen with this label that the U.S. has failed?

As international leaders let the timetable for a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol slip to 2010, Republicans call for “starting from scratch” as Democrats and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) hope that spring will be a final deadline for passage of climate legislation.

Ben Cardin (D-MD)

E&E News Conventional wisdom is that you have until the spring to get controversial issues moving. If not, it’s difficult to see getting through closer to the elections.

Kent Conrad (D-ND)

E&E News I’m encouraged by it. Senator Kerry has certainly been good at reaching out. He’s been very serious about reaching out. We’ve been sharing things with him. We have more to share. He’s very good at listening, which is the best way of succeeding around here.

Byron Dorgan (D-ND)

Politico Good policy is going to be left behind by the insistence that the climate change bill has to be done first or together.

Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

E&E News We don’t want it to slip into the summer.

Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

E&E News But I do appreciate what Lindsey Graham is trying to do in the sense of nuclear and more offshore drilling.

Several senators say they would prefer to have a better idea what major developing countries plan to do under the auspices of the U.N. talks before they sign off on any domestic emission restrictions. “That’d make a big difference. If we passed a bill that the rest of the world didn’t follow, then Uncle Sam could soon become Uncle Sucker and export all of our jobs to China.”

Max Baucus (D-Mont.)

Wall Street Journal It’s common understanding that climate-change legislation will not be brought up on the Senate floor and pass the Senate this year.

Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)

AgricultureOnline Quite frankly, I don’t know that we’re going to do anything on it until next year because we have the health bill.

John Kerry (D-Mass.)

Politico As soon as it is practical with respect to the health care debate and financial regulator reform this legislation will come to the floor of the Senate and the United States Senate will do its part.

Wall Street Journal I don’t want to create artificial deadlines which get in the way of our being methodical about this. The main thing to do here is to build the adequate base of support and consensus.

Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)

Politico I feel the meetings that Sen. Kerry and Graham and I have had so far that we are making some progress here and we can move it along.

Richard Lugar (R-Ind.)

Wall Street Journal I don’t see any climate bill on the table right now that I can support. We really have to start from scratch again.

Max Baucus (D-MT)

Washington Independent I am committed to passing meaningful, balanced climate-change legislation. I am committed to legislation that will protect our land and those whose livelihood depends on it. I want our children and grandchildren to be able to enjoy the outdoors the way that we can today. So I’m going to work to pass climate-change legislation that is both meaningful and that can muster enough votes to become law. […] Let me be clear. We should work to minimize any job losses. But we should recognize that in the case of acid rain [in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments], the negative [economic] consequences were far less than projected. We should keep this in mind when similar claims are made about the effects of legislation to address climate change.

Reuters We can not allow our manufacturing industries to fade as result of trade with countries that refuse to negotiate global solutions to global concerns. We must push our trading partners to do their part to curb harmful emissions and we must devise a border measure, consistent with our international obligations, to prevent the carbon leakage that would occur if US manufacturing shifts to countries without effective climate change programs.

John Kerry (D-MA)

DTN Well, EPA is poised to move. Everybody needs to understand that. I’m going to make this as clear as I can: I don’t think anybody is going to wind up [blocking] EPA, because there’s filibuster-proof capacity to prevent that from happening. I’ll personally stand on the Senate floor, day and night, to prevent that from happening. Therefore, success in this is not defined by stopping a Senate bill. The reason is, EPA will then regulate without assistance to coal, without allocation of allowances that help companies to make the transition. And then you’re out there on your own. So the game in town, folks, is here. It’s in the Congress, where we have the ability to mitigate the transitional costs and to be reasonable in the process. That’s something people really need to focus on.

Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

E&E News Right now, plenty of other nations, including China, are ahead of us in manufacturing solar power technology, which better positions them for economic strength in the 21st Century. We have always been a world leader in innovation, and it’s time that we grab this economic opportunity.

Senators lay out their agenda after the Environment and Public Works Committee reported out the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.

Max Baucus (D-MT)

E&E News That frees up the Senate, frankly. It frees up all members of the Senate who are interested in climate change, including those on the committee.

I don’t want to say we’re going to do something totally different. I’m respectful of the House allocation.

We have to be sensitive to our own industries, as other countries are sensitive to theirs. I strongly believe that an open trading system benefits all countries. It’d be unwise to retrench.

On his idea for triggers for stronger targets That’s something we can work out. Climate change is going to be with us, legislative efforts are going to be with us for a while. It’s not going to happen tomorrow. Plenty of time to work on this.

Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)

Wall Street Journal The actions the EPA has taken and its plans to regulate greenhouse gases are a serious concern. However, EPA’s actions should not scare Congress into passing bad legislation.

Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Politico Now, it’s time to find a bill that will make good policy. Clearly, there are not 60 votes for that product.

E&E News I appreciate the committee’s work. Now it’s time to find a bill that can make good policy. Environmental policy needs to be good business policy. If it’s not, there will never be 60 votes.

Judd Gregg (R-NH)

Politico It’s hard to vote on a bill that big without knowing what it’s going to do. I don’t think that bill is viable in its present form, because we don’t know what it does.

Tom Harkin (D-IA)

E&E News on the 50-50 split of allocations to utilities based on retail sales and historic emissions It’s going to be changed. It can’t stay at 50-50. It won’t. It can’t.

Senators attempt to negotiate the partisan battle over moving the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S. 1733) forward.

Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)

E&E News We think this is going the extra mile for our friends on the other side, and we really hope they’ll return to the table. They have every reason to do that.

Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)

E&E News I believe that Americans will accept higher prices as necessary for increasing our energy security and making necessary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, but they also expect that the burden should be shared across the country.

John Kerry (D-Mass.)

E&E News Over the years, whether it was with the leadership of Senator Jack Heinz, Senator John McCain or Senator John Warner, we’ve made progress on climate change when we’ve been able to overcome partisan divisions. We’ve never needed to do that more than today.

Richard Lugar (R-Ind.)

E&E News [Boxer’s planned markup] would not be constructive as far as progress on the bill is concerned. I suspect that there’d be no particular reason for many members to support it.

Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)

E&E News Their behavior challenges everything that we’re about here: “If you don’t like it, turn your back and walk out.” It’s almost like school children over there.

George Voinovich (R-Ohio)

E&E News I think we’ve made it pretty clear that we want a complete analysis of the bill. It’s been made clear to her that’s what we want. I think it’s a sensible approach because of the fact this is probably the most important piece of legislation this committee has undertaken since the Clean Air Act itself, maybe even more important.

Kit Bond (R-MO)

E&E News It’s a smaller pie. People want to know what’s going on. We’re still trying to figure out how these complicated, cockamamie schemes are going to work. Anything that’s that complicated is by definition highly suspect and the more I hear, the more I suspect.

Robert Byrd (D-WV)

Reuters Byrd praised Boxer’s additions in the bill that put more focus on clean coal technology. But he warned, “I will actively oppose any bill that would harm the workers, families, industries, or our esource-based economy in West Virginia.”

Tom Carper (D-DE)

E&E News Carper said he would pursue his measure to cut power plants’ emissions of soot, mercury, SOx and NOxas stand-alone legislation if it does not make it into the bill. “One way or another,” he said.

Robert Casey (D-PA)

Politico The target’s certainly a change from where the House was, and that’s going to be a subject of debate.

Byron Dorgan (D-ND)

Politico We’ll see what they put together in EPW, but I think it’s going to be very hard for them to pass legislation unless they have substantial discussions with moderate senators and address their concerns.

Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

The Hill This administration is not going to allow offshore drilling for oil and gas unless it’s part of some bigger deal. I don’t think you’ll ever have offshore drilling for oil and gas until you marry it up with emissions controls. They don’t have 60 votes for environmental policy in the House and the Senate because it’s bad for business. All of these bills, I couldn’t support because they’re cap and trade legislation that really does put us at a competitive disadvantage.

As hearings begin on the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S. 1733), senators are staking out their positions on whether the regulations in the bill should be strengthened or weakened.

Max Baucus (D-MT)

E&E News Speaking at the start of an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing where he is the second highest-ranking member, the Montana Democrat said he wanted to weaken the bill’s 2020 target for greenhouse gas emissions—now 20 percent below 2005 levels. He did not name a specific midterm target for the heat-trapping gases, instead telling reporters he hoped for “some modification.” The six-term senator also said he hoped to attach pre-emption language to the Senate climate bill, S. 1733, that stops U.S. EPA from implementing a 2007 Supreme Court opinion that opens the door to new greenhouse gas emission standards on industry.

The legislation before us is about our economy. Montana, with our resource-based agriculture and tourism economies, cannot afford the unmitigated impacts of climate change. But we also cannot afford the unmitigated affects of climate change legislation. That’s why I support passing common-sense legislation that reduces greenhouse gas emissions while protecting our economy. The key word in that sentence is ‘passing.’

Barbara Boxer (D-CA)

E&E News No climate bill has ever had this level of review, and the Obama administration stands behind this analysis.

This bill is the best insurance against a dangerous future. It is a responsible approach that sets attainable goals for gradual reductions in carbon emissions and it protects consumers, businesses and workers as we move toward clean energy. This need for bipartisanship, believe me, I’d give anything if had a John Warner still sitting here. We don’t have it. Climate change, global warming isn’t waiting for who’s a Democrat or who’s a Republican. Either we’re going to deal with this problem, or we’re not.

[on weakening targets] I don’t think it’s necessary, because we’re so down on carbon, by about 8 or 9 percent, so the real goal is going to be really easy to meet.

Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

E&E News Graham told reporters he hoped to form a “working group” with Kerry and the Obama administration that could serve as a forum for senators who do not sit on the relevant committees. “What we’re going to do is start with a clean sheet of paper and say, ‘What does it take?’” Graham said.

James Inhofe (R-OK)

EPW The victims of cap-and-trade can’t just move on and get new, green jobs.

John Kerry (D-MA)

E&E News America’s leadership is certainly on the line here.

E&E News It’s really a much lower percentage, frankly, by 2020. We’ll see what happens on the floor on that. I’m open to talking to Max. We’ll see where we wind up.

Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)

E&E News Senator Baucus is a major figure in the Senate. The fact is, he has a different attitude than I, based on the needs of what he sees in his state. I wouldn’t hesitate to remind him there’s a national good that can come out of this, and to see if we can persuade him.

_Witnesses_

• Shari T. Wilson, Secretary, Maryland Department of the Environment
• Ronald E. Young, President, California Association of Sanitation Agencies
• Dr. Peter C. Frumhoff, Chief Scientist, Climate Campaign, Union of Concerned Scientists
• Larry J. Schweiger, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Wildlife Federation
• Fawn Sharp, President, Quinault Indian Nation
• Jim Sims, President and Chief Executive Officer, Western Business Roundtable
• Kenneth P. Green, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

28/10/2009 at 02:00PM

_Witnesses_

• David Crane, President and Chief Executive Officer, NRG Energy, Inc.
• Ralph Izzo, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PSEG)
• Kevin Law, President and Chief Executive Officer, Long Island Power Authority
• Nathaniel Keohane, Director of Economic Policy and Analysis, Environmental Defense Fund
• Joel Bluestein, Senior Vice President, ICF International
• Barry Hart, Chief Executive Officer, Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives
• Dustin Johnson, Commissioner, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission

28/10/2009 at 01:00PM