Waxman chides U.S. Chamber on climate bill: ‘A stalemate is not a solution’

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) on Tuesday told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — up close and personal — that it erred in attacking his climate bill and called for collaboration in the future.

“We cannot advance our industrial leadership in clean energy technology and jobs unless we have a modern and effective energy policy,” Waxman said at a Chamber-hosted event on U.S.-Israel business ties, according to his prepared remarks.

Waxman shepherded a big cap-and-trade and energy bill to a narrow House victory in 2009 but the bill — under assault by the Chamber and several other big industry groups — stalled in the Senate.

“For too long, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been on the opposite side of this issue. The Chamber pulled no punches in attacking my legislation. But wrestling each other into a stalemate is not a solution,” Waxman added.

He called for a broad energy and climate policy that puts a price on carbon emissions and “harnesses market forces.”

“It is my hope that, in the next Congress, we can find a way to work together, on a common-sense basis, to address these issues, and move forward together,” Waxman said. “Otherwise, we will continue to have conferences where we laud the achievements of companies in Israel and other countries who are doing things we should also be doing here at home.”

The Chamber argued Waxman’s bill would impose costly rules and mandates and harm oil refiners, among other complaints.

The powerful business group — which also opposes EPA climate change rules — took part in talks this year on a Senate emissions bill that would have included expanded nuclear power incentives and other measures aimed at corralling more industry support, or at least lowering resistance.

However, the compromise bill crafted by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was shy of 60 supporters and never came up for a vote.

While Waxman reiterated his call for pricing carbon, any proposal to place mandatory curbs on heat-trapping emissions is likely to face even bigger hurdles in the next Congress, which will be more heavily Republican.

Nonetheless, Waxman made the case Tuesday that the absence of broad energy and climate legislation is harmful to the coal industry and other business sectors. Waxman noted, for instance, his bill’s financial support for carbon capture and storage technology that would “assure a future for coal.”

“Absent such legislation, more and more utilities are turning to natural gas,” he said.

Waxman also said manufacturers will suffer as “clean energy” jobs go to China and elsewhere, and that the farm sector loses a chance to generate revenue through carbon offsets.