E2-Wire

Obama said Monday evening that he wants to figure out "whose ass to kick" over the massive oil spill.

Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are headed for a clash over energy and climate legislation.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) acknowledged Monday that his plan to greatly expand oil-and-gas leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico won’t proceed in the wake of the BP oil spill.

Dorgan, a senior member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, steered a provision through the committee last year that would shrink the no-drilling buffer in the eastern Gulf to 45 miles from Florida’s shore.

But the BP spill has scrambled offshore drilling policy, creating major new hurdles for any plans to expand development, especially as oil threatens Florida’s beaches. Asked if his plan would be scaled back, Dorgan said, “I expect it will.”

Schumer softened his earlier statement that climate legislation would be offered as an amendment to an energy bill.

The Obama administration and Congress may consider ways to legally bind BP to pay damages resulting from the oil spill, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said Monday.

Dorgan, the second-ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, worried BP might be able to back out of its pledge to pay all "legitimate" claims from the spill without the force of law.

"We need to bind them at this point, to make sure that — six months, 16 months from now — they don't say, 'Well, you know what, we didn't mean we were going to stand behind all of it,'" Dorgan said this afternoon during an appearance on CNBC.

A group representing offshore energy companies is pressing the new chief of the Minerals Management Service to clarify drilling rules and allow development to proceed.

The letter from the National Ocean Industries Association to acting MMS chief Bob Abbey calls for issuing “guidance” to offshore oil-and-gas drillers “as soon as possible” outlining new safety measures needed for companies to receive approval of drilling permits and exploration plans.

“Such guidance should be timely, measurable and achievable,” states the letter from Randall Luthi, the group’s president, who headed MMS under President George W. Bush. The minerals agency regulates offshore oil-and-gas drilling.

Americans view the government's response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill more unfavorably than its response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a new poll found Monday.

A new ABC/Washington Post poll released this afternoon shows wide margins of disapproval for both BP and the federal government in their response to a blown-out well that has spilled thousands of barrels of oil daily into the Gulf for more than a month.

69 percent of adults said the government's reaction has been "not so good" or "poor," according to the poll. 62 percent rated the government's response to Hurricane Katrina similarly in the storm's immediate aftermath.

Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) claim Monday that climate change legislation will be a floor amendment to a narrower energy package has prompted instant fear among liberal activists who say the strategy deals a harsh blow to the climate bill’s prospects.

Climate advocates worry that winning a vote on a global warming amendment is tougher than corralling 60 votes for a broad package that already includes greenhouse gas provisions authored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).

“Kerry and Lieberman would need 60 votes to pass their amendment, in all likelihood. While it was unclear if they could get cloture for their weakened version of a cap and trade bill, there’s almost no chance they get it as an amendment,” writes David Dayen at the liberal blog Firedoglake.

The president expressed optimism that Gulf Coast communities will survive the economic strain of the oil leak.

No coastal area or beach may be left unaffected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a key Florida senator said Monday.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D) asserted that worst-case scenarios could see oil wash all the way up the East Coast, contrasting assertions by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) that coastlines are relatively clear in his state right now.

"The worst news is going to be that if they don't get the well cap capped and it gushes all summer, it's going to fill up the Gulf and there's not going to be anybody's beach that's going to be spared, including the East Coast of the United States when it gets in the loop current and goes around the keys and up the East Coast," Nelson said this morning during an appearance on CNN.