Weekly Policy Update 7/19/2010 - Senate bill scheduled for floor time next week

With time running out in the 111th Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has decided to schedule floor time for an energy and climate bill next week. His general outline for the bill includes oil spill response, clean energy incentives, and utility-only climate regulations, but a final product has yet to be assembled. Utilities and moderate senators have yet to be wooed by Reid's outline, but Senate leadership remains committed to bringing a bill to the floor that will attract 60 votes. See 1Sky’s latest call to action.

Senate Timeline:

• Week of 7/26: Floor time for climate and energy bill
• 8/7-9/12: August recess (though Reid has threatened to delay recess an extra week to allow for passage of key legislation)

Senate pushes forward, eying floor time next week

Majority Leader Reid has set aside floor time for the climate and energy bill next week. Though a bill is yet to be fleshed out, Reid's outline includes:

...an oil spill response; a clean-energy and job-creation title based on work done in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; a tax package from the Senate Finance Committee; and a section that deals with greenhouse gas emissions from the electric utility industry.

The Center for American Progress has a more detailed description of what a strong bill could look like within these general parameters. With so many energy and climate bills already written, the final package will likely include existing material, much like a "Greatest Hits" album, or "Stone Soup:" Moderates on both sides of the aisle remain cautious of Reid's bill outline. "Brown Dogs" amongst the Democrats would prefer a weaker package that includes only oil spill response and select energy components.

On Tuesday afternoon, Carte Goodwin will be sworn into the late Senator Robert C. Byrd's (D-WV) former seat. Unlike Byrd, Goodwin opposes mandatory regulations for carbon pollution.

Twelve freshmen Democratic senators came out in support of capping carbon emissions last week, including Senators Begich (D-AK), Warner (D-VA), and Hagen (D-NC). Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) has been supportive of a utility-only cap on carbon, but is pessimistic about its chances of getting 60 votes. Her preferred floor strategy would be to bring up an energy-only bill, and add a cap as an amendment, a move that many argue would leave a cap on the cutting room floor. 1Sky and our allies will be fighting for a strong bill that cuts climate pollution while preserving existing public heath safeguards and Clean Air Act regulations for oil and coal pollution- see our latest call to action.

Utilities push to undermine public health safeguards

Though not linked to a particular set of votes in the Senate, electric utilities are withholding their public support for the bill in hopes of winning more concessions from Congress. Faced with playing catch-up on a decade of stalled pollution regulations for smog, acid rain, mercury, and other pollutants, utilities are trying to trade away existing public health safeguards in exchange for the new climate package. Negotiations have been taking place off the Hill between the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the largest electric utility trade association, and environmental groups like EDF and NRDC. So far all environmental groups have been standing their ground on public health protections. Progressive senators like Ben Cardin (D-MD) are speaking out against deals that involve public health rollbacks. Cutting a deal with the utilities may not be worth EEI's support if it costs votes from the left. Dave Roberts from Grist has a great piece explaining the context behind this bargain. A diverse set progressive organizations are beginning to speak out against any deal involving public health tradeoffs.

Senator Rockefeller's (D-WV) "Dirty Air Act"

After 1Sky and others worked hard to ensure that Senator Lisa Murkowski's (R-AK) Dirty Air Act was voted down 53-47, Majority Leader Reid promised Senator Rockefeller (D-WV) a vote on his version of the "Dirty Air Act" by the end of the year. Rockefeller's proposal is expected to come up for a vote as a floor amendment to climate legislation that will be considered next week. Rockefeller's bill has 6 co-sponsors, 5 of whom were not among the 47 senators who already voted with Murkowski.

Wall St. reform passes, with unemployment extension close behind.

Last Thursday the Senate passed the final version of Wall St reform 60-39. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) crossed party lines to vote in favor of passage, and Senator Feingold (D-WI) voted against in hopes of strengthening the bill. Following his swearing-in on Tuesday, Senate Appointee Carte Goodwin (D-WV) will be the crucial 60th vote necessary to overcome the filibuster on extending unemployment insurance to millions of laid-off Americans. This vote will help clear the way for other legislative priorities, like climate and energy.

BP Gulf Disaster: Day 91 (3-month anniversary tomorrow)

1Sky is working with MoveOn and others to organize a DC rally on Tuesday, July 20 -- the 3- month anniversary of the spill -- to send Congress the message that they have oil on their hands.

In a New York Times op-ed last Tuesday, David Abraham, who worked in management of offshore programs at the White House from 2003 to 2005, argued that Congress deserves a hefty share of the blame for the oil spill. Congress hasn't debated safety regulations on offshore drilling since the 1990s, focusing instead on policies that encourage more oil production.

BP says they have successfully capped the leaking deepwater oil well as of Friday afternoon. However, government observers are now pointing out that oil is seeping out through cracks in the ocean floor as a result of the pressure buildup beneath the capped wellhead.

Last Monday Interior Secretary Ken Salazar issued a new moratorium on offshore drilling that replaced the original ban overturned by a federal court. The new moratorium applies to all facilities with blowout preventers, which will restrict most new deepwater drilling activity in the Gulf. Like the first ban, this one runs until November 30th, but would allow rigs to resume operations upon demonstrating that they have adequate safety precautions in place.

BP confirmed on Thursday that it lobbied the British government to release Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi in a prisoner-release agreement to Libya because it wanted to protect a $900 million offshore exploration deal on Libya’s coast. Al-Megrahi, convicted for the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing over Scotland, was released by the Scottish government in August 2009 and now lives free in Libya.