Voinovich: White House energy meeting sent ‘clear signal’ that climate bill won’t pass

Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) said Tuesday that the White House meeting President Barack Obama hosted with a bipartisan group of senators demonstrated that broad climate change legislation is probably dead.

Voinovich, who has been eyed as a swing vote on climate legislation, also cast doubt on efforts to advance a narrower plan that applies greenhouse gas limits to electric power plants only.

“I believe today’s meeting at the White House sent a clear signal to the president, Senator Kerry and Senator Lieberman that the chances of passing their cap and trade legislation are quite slim,” he said in a statement Tuesday issued several hours after he attended the meeting.

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) have authored a sweeping plan that would apply an emissions cap to power plants, big manufacturing plants, motor fuels and other emissions sources. Voinovich noted that he does not support such “economy-wide” legislation.

Kerry said Tuesday that he and Lieberman are offering to scale back their plan, and that one option is a utility-focused approach. But Voinovich suggested that approach would run into problems too.

“As far as a cap and trade program for the electric power sector, I understand that there is no consensus in the utility industry,” he said.

Voinovich was rosier on the prospects for legislation authored by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Bingaman is pushing a broad energy bill that his committee approved with several GOP votes a year ago.

Voinovich said Bingaman’s plan could serve as a foundation for Senate energy legislation, which is expected on the floor next month.

It contains a national renewable electricity mandate for utilities, wider federal support for low-carbon energy projects and a suite of efficiency measures, among many other provisions, but does not impose limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

“There seemed to be consensus that Senator Bingaman’s energy bill may be a viable path forward in the Senate. While in need of improvement, it has bipartisan support and presents a variety of policy tools to expand domestic clean energy resources and reduce emissions,” Voinovich said, while calling for addition of provisions that further expand financing for nuclear power plants and carbon capture projects.