White House to Congress: Energy-only bill would be ‘unfortunate’

White House climate czar Carol Browner said Tuesday that the Obama administration is urging Senate lawmakers not to proceed with an “energy only” bill that shelves limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

Browner said the White House is very engaged in bipartisan talks on Capitol Hill.

“We are very clear that we want comprehensive legislation,” Browner said at an energy event at Google’s Washington, DC office. “Every now and then you will hear talk about maybe an energy-only bill. We think that would be unfortunate.”

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) plan to roll out a bill later this month that limits greenhouse gas emissions while expanding federal support for nuclear power, offshore oil-and-gas drilling and low-emissions coal projects, among other measures.

Their bill will break with the “economy-wide” cap-and-trade plan to cut emissions that the House approved in 2009.

Instead, the Senate bill is expected to employ a hybrid approach that includes a cap-and-trade plan for power plants (with limits on other industrial plants to be phased in later), and a carbon fee to address emissions from motor fuels.

But any emissions caps are controversial and face big hurdles in the Senate.

Some lawmakers are pressing Democratic leaders to instead take up a more limited package of measures on energy efficiency and production of traditional and alternative sources.

Browner spoke at an event about innovations in home energy management, such as systems that provide residents with detailed and real-time information about their power consumption.

“Giving people this kind of real-time feedback will start to change not only their behavior, which is important, but equally important it will start to drive the demand for more efficient appliances,” Browner said.