Top oil lobbyist: New climate bill will never reach Senate floor

The head of a powerful oil industry trade group predicts the Senate will shy away from debate on new Democratic legislation that imposes fees on carbon emissions from coal and petroleum.

American Petroleum Institute CEO Jack Gerard said he did not expect the Senate to vote on the bill sponsored by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“I think no, it will not get to the floor, and I think the reason it won't get to the floor is the dynamics surrounding carbon has changed,” Gerard told E&E TV.

Boxer said she wants the bill to get a vote, but a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was noncommittal last week.

Gerard noted that the expansion of natural gas production, which is allowing gas to increasingly displace more carbon-heavy coal, has helped drive the recent reduction of U.S. carbon emissions without legislation.

“The United States has done more than anybody else around the world to reduce their carbon emissions, and that is due largely to the increased use of clean burning natural gas,” Gerard said in the interview broadcast Wednesday.

Climate legislation faces grim prospects in Congress. Green groups are pressing President Obama to take more aggressive steps using his executive powers, such as imposing carbon standards on existing power plants.