Recent Event Highlights: Kerry, Lieberman introduce American Power Act, Kerry and Lieberman to pursue climate without Graham, Graham pulls out of climate because of immigration, Obama announces offshore drilling, Graham: Cap-and trade dead, energy independence lives on, Obama: Climate legislation at the top of agenda, and 5 more...
Created by rgerholdt on May 10, 2010
Last updated: 05/12/10 at 03:00 PM
Tags: climate kerry lieberman graham
In a long-awaited proposal designed to secure existing domestic energy sources and develop new ones that begin to reverse the damaging effects of global climate change, New England Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman introduce comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation.
http://blog.usclimatenetwork.org/capitol-hill/the-hour-of-choosing-arrives-american-power-act-introduced-in-senate/
Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman released a joint statement announcing their plan to roll out comprehensive energy and climate change legislation on May 12 without the participation of Senator Lindsey Graham. Graham says it is "impossible" to pass climate legislation at the moment and urges Kerry and Lieberman to "pause" the process. In the wake of continued difficulties stopping the flow of oil into the Gulf resulting from the Deepwater Horizon explosion April 20th, several coastal-state Democratic Senators urged Lieberman to eliminate offshore drilling provisions from the bill. Lieberman responded that “it is getting a second look.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/96581-offshore-drilling-provisions-in-climate-bill-getting-a-second-look-lieberman
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina pulled out of negotiations to forge a climate change bill, apparently outraged that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to push immigration reform this year in addition to climate. Graham's withdrawal came only days before the unveiling of the trio's draft legislation. A statement from nine environmental organizations was promptly released (download PDF), urging the three senators to continue work on their bipartisan legislation.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-25/graham-bolts-from-climate-talks-dimming-hopes-for-u-s-bill.html
On April 20, an explosion and fire aboard a deep-water oil rig platform in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers. Two days later, on Earth Day’s 40th anniversary, the rig sank and simultaneously produced an oil slick that the government says is growing by about 5,000 barrels of oil daily. The catastrophe further complicates the path to 60 votes for climate legislation, as some Democratic senators vow to not vote for the bill if it allows more offshore drilling. The offshore drilling provision had been added to woo Republicans to support the legislation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/us/politics/28drill.html
White House energy and climate adviser Carol Browner said that President Obama is open to helping energy-intensive industries cope with the costs of climate legislation, including use of controversial border tariffs he had previously warned could spark a global trade war. On April 15 ten Senate Democrats, led by Sherrod Brown of Michigan and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, wrote a letter to Kerry, Graham and Lieberman urging them to have their legislation include border adjustments for countries with weak greenhouse gas reduction requirements.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/04/20/20greenwire-obama-open-to-trade-protections-in-senate-clim-18632.html
President Obama announces the end of a long standing moratorium on oil exploration along the Atlantic coast. The president proposal opens up vast expanses of the Atlantic coast line and the Gulf of Mexico to offshore drilling, while also allowing drilling for oil along the north coast of Alaska. No drilling would be allowed along southwest Alaska or the full stretch of the Pacific coast. During the State of the Union, President Obama had flagged offshore drilling as one area he was willing to compromise on with Republicans in order to pass climate and energy legislation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/science/earth/31energy.html
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) asserts the drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a "must-have" if she is to consider voting for a climate bill, but her Senate colleagues including Senator Joe Lieberman says they refuse to budge on the issue. "We are looking at a lot of things, we are bending to bring people in, but that one is a no-no," he said.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/85039-lieberman-anwr-drilling-a-deal-breaker-in-climate-effort
Amid speculation about the timing of a Senate proposal Senator Graham tells reporters it will be “weeks” before a bill comes together. Senator Kerry says it could happen sometime in March. The draft’s overall goal is reportedly to reduce U.S. greenhouse gases by 2020 in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels, an objective shared in the climate bill that passed the House in June 2009. "It will be different from anything that's been put on the table in the House or Senate to date," Kerry said. "It'll be comprehensive. And I hope it'll change the debate."
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/03/01/01climatewire-senate-climate-talks-intensify-with-new-carb-17075.html
Senator Graham tells the New York Times, “cap-and-trade as we know it is dead, but the issue of cleaning up the air and energy independence should not die — and you will never have energy independence without pricing carbon.”
http://www.campusprogress.org/fieldreport/5130/can-a-climate-bill-still-pass
Senator Graham affirms his support for comprehensive reform, categorically rejecting any energy bill that does not also cap greenhouse gas emissions. "I don't think you'll ever have energy independence the way I want until you start dealing with carbon pollution and pricing carbon,” he says. “The two are interconnected. If the approach is to try to pass some half-assed energy bill and say that's moving the ball down the road, forget it with me."
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/02/03/03greenwire-sen-graham-slams-push-for-a-half-assed-energy-54765.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1267818135-86UbnUlNkA/bVvwE3gcaZQ
President Obama confirms that climate and energy legislation is at the top of his agenda during the State of the Union address. He urges lawmakers to take on the climate bill after they finish work on a jobs bill and new financial rules for Wall Street. Obama said he was "grateful" to the House for passing its version of a climate bill and said he wanted to pass bipartisan climate legislation in the Senate "this year."
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/01/28/28climatewire-obama-holds-firm-on-climate-bill-but-most-se-96034.html
Senator Lindsey Graham tells the New York Times that while he is skeptical of the House-approved proposal to cap-and-trade carbon, he supports limiting greenhouse gas emissions and will work to win over reluctant Republicans as part of a broader bill that also opens the door to more domestic energy production.
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/print/2010/01/27/3
When asked about legislation he is working on with Senators Lieberman and Graham, Kerry indicates developing a scheme to put a price on carbon is the key to unlocking the impasse in Washington. "I can't tell you the method or the means or amount by which we might price carbon,” he said. “We haven't resolved that yet."
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/12/16/16greenwire-un-deal-really-critical-to-senate-climate-bill-15758.html?sq=china%20smog&st=cse&scp=4&pagewanted=all
Kerry, Graham and Lieberman unveil the broad outlines to combine greenhouse gas limits with expanded offshore drilling, more nuclear power and protections for refiners. They announce their proposal midway through the climate summit in Copenhagen.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6764443.html
The Clean Energy Jobs bill advances through the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, 11-to-1, despite a boycott of the vote by the panel's Republicans. At the same time, Senators John Kerry, Lindsey Graham, and Joseph Lieberman say they are working on a "dual track" to assemble a new proposal. Kerry and Graham said their approach would combine "aggressive reductions" in greenhouse gas emissions with a plan to construct nuclear power plants and allow more onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration.
http://blog.usclimatenetwork.org/capitol-hill/senate-committee-passes-climate-bill/
South and North, Republican and Democrat team up to break partisan barrier to climate and clean energy legislation. South Carolina Senator Republican Lindsey Graham and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry co-author an op-ed in the New York Times that describes a bipartisan approach to passing a comprehensive bill in the Senate.
http://www.usclimatenetwork.org/news-room/articles/gamechanger-kerry-graham-op-ed-supports-climate-energy-bill
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