E2 Round-up: An oil spill in Texas, still seeking climate deal, and John Rowe gets profiled

This probably doesn’t help proponents of expanding offshore drilling. As much as 11,000 barrels of oil spilled into a Port Arthur, Texas, waterway over the weekend after a barge punctured a hole in a tanker. The Wall Street Journal called it the biggest oil spill in the state in two decades.

The spill happened at an industrial area where people seem comfortable with the oil industry. The Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce’s motto is,” Where oil and water mix, beautifully.” But critics of offshore drilling are likely to take the accident as proof that oil spills still happen despite technological advances that have made drilling much safer.

Are the rumors of the death of climate legislation greatly exaggerated? The Boston Globe has a piece about how the climate trio, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), continue to try to find some way forward. The three met with one of the biggest critics of cap-and-trade legislation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, last week to try to revive the bill. 

There are still no specifics about what the compromise could look like.  It is likely to include new subsidies for nuclear power and "clean coal," and expand drilling access.

The Chamber hates cap-and-trade, but the legislation has its supporters in the business community. Perhaps no company is a bigger proponent than the utility Exelon, which quit the Chamber last fall over its stance against the climate bill. More than 90 percent of the power Exelon generates comes from nuclear power plants that don’t release carbon dioxide when operating. A bill that puts a price on carbon would likely be a boon to the utility. 

The USA Today takes a look at Exelon's CEO John Rowe, who has taken on an active role in support of the cap and trade bill.