Rockefeller: Abandon climate legislation for now

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) on Thursday said the Senate should abandon efforts – at least for now – to pass a sweeping climate change bill and also urged adoption of his plan that would block some EPA greenhouse gas regulations for two years.

“The Senate should be focusing on the immediate issues before us – to suspend EPA action on greenhouse gas emissions, push clean coal technologies, and tackle the Gulf oil spill,” he said in a prepared statement Thursday afternoon.

“We need to set aside controversial and more far-reaching climate proposals and work right now on energy legislation that protects our economy, protects West Virginia and improves our environment,” added Rockefeller, an ally of the his home state’s coal industry.

Rockefeller’s office circulated the comment Thursday afternoon, following a meeting of the Senate Democratic caucus on energy legislation.

It notes that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to allow a vote this year on Rockefeller’s bill that would delay EPA regulation of carbon emissions from power plants and other stationary sources for two years.

“This bill is needed as soon as possible – not only to guarantee that Congress, rather than an unelected regulatory agency, sets our national energy policy, but also to make sure that in this very fragile economic recovery, our manufacturing and energy sectors are able to grow and create jobs,” Rockefeller said.

A Reid aide confirms that Rockefeller’s plan “is on a list of items that we will try to consider this year.”

The caucus meeting featured presentations by sponsors of various energy and climate change plans, including Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who are touting separate proposals to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

But the opposition of Rockefeller – who chairs the Commerce Committee – to taking up broad global warming legislation could be a blow to the climate proposals.

The meeting yielded no apparent decisions about the shape of the “clean energy” bill that Reid intends to bring to the floor this summer, and further caucus talks are planned. Reid, in particular, did not say whether the plan would include provisions to limit greenhouse gases.

But Kerry warned against viewing Reid’s lack of commitment to carbon provisions as a blow to his effort to advance climate legislation. Kerry authored a broad climate and energy bill with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) that they pitched to the caucus Thursday.

“We first need to allow senators to weigh in and have a chance to address concerns and see where the balance of sentiment is in the caucus,” Kerry told reporters after the caucus meeting.



“That's the normal process here. I would not read anything into that except his [Reid’s] respect for those senators and for that process,” Kerry added.