E2 Round-up: A hybrid climate bill, oil industry makes nice, and investors eye natural gas drillers

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) continue the search for the elusive climate change compromise. Although it has never really been clear what their proposal was exactly, beyond a cap on carbon and more support for nuclear power and offshore drilling, Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested this week they were scaling back plans in response to political realities.

A string of electoral defeats seems to have chastened Democrats. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), one of the strongest proponents of cap-and-trade legislation, says the party may have to accept interim steps to reduce heat trapping gases. Here’s Bloomberg’s take on where climate legislation stands on Capitol Hill.

The oil industry, although not a fan of current cap-and-trade proposals, is trying to stress the positive as a new year begins. Jack Gerard, the president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, said oil and gas companies were “natural partners” with the administration on efforts to create more jobs.

Still, Gerard criticized the administration for the decline in the number of drilling leases on federal land and water and said the industry would fight any tax increases, in Greenwire.

Investors who want the companies they invest in to act in an environmentally responsible manner are targeting companies that operate in the Marcellus Shale, in Reuters. 

The shale is located in the Northeast and is thought to contain a huge amount of natural gas, prompting a bit of a gold rush there. The discovery promises to be a boon to the region. But it is also raising concerns about a drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, which some groups claim can spoil drinking water resources. Industry strongly rejects that claim.

Reuters also reports this morning that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar rejected Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s recent call to move ahead with oil and gas leasing off his state’s shores.