E2-Wire

John Kerry said the energy and climate bill he is unveiling Wednesday would temporarily block offshore oil-and-gas drilling.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will come out in support of the work product and effort behind a new energy and climate bill set for introduction today, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Wednesday.

Kerry, the author of a compromise energy bill with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), said he expects words of encouragement today from Graham, the Republican senator who'd worked with them on the legislation until withdrawing support over concerns about immigration.

"Lindsey Graham will issue a statement today," Kerry said on MSNBC. "He stands by the work product of this bill. He supports this effort."

Graham had been part of talks with Kerry and Lieberman, but withdrew amid signals by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that Democrats might also pursue immigration reform this year. For a time, it seemed as thought that push might have come before the energy bill.

The politics of immigration, Graham said last Friday, made passing the legislation set for introduction today "impossible" in the immediate future.

"We have a different opinion about what's possible," Kerry said during an appearance on "Fox and Friends," adding that support by Reid and President Barack Obama could ease the new bill's chances for passage. "I think he believes that with the right ingredients, if President Obama gets involved, if Harry Reid and all of us pull together, I think this could pass."

"But unfortunately with the immigration bill entering the landscape, it complicates the situation for Lindsey," Kerry said on MSNBC.

Reid has said that he'll huddle with key chairmen on energy legislation after the Memorial Day recess in Congress at the end of this month, and has opened the door for a scaled-back proposal.

As for immigration, another top Democrat, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), said Wednesday that it's "unlikely" an immigration bill will move this year.

Updated at 12:39 p.m. Cross-posted to the Briefing Room.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is seeking to blunt political attacks on offshore drilling measures in his upcoming climate and energy bill by highlighting protections for states that oppose development.

Some liberal Democrats and environmental groups have ramped up their opposition to offshore oil-and-gas drilling in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

“We actually restrict the current plan of the president. We give states greater say in their future. I'm saying it restricts the current law and it restricts the president's plan,” Kerry said Wednesday morning on CBS’s “The Early Show.”

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is using Twitter to warn Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) that their upcoming climate and energy bill shouldn’t pare back the no-drilling buffer off Florida’s Gulf of Mexico shores.

“Word is climate bill might let rigs in Florida’s no-drill zone. If Sens. Kerry, Lieberman are following me on Twitter: that’s a non starter,” Nelson tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.

Under a 2006 law, oil-and-gas leasing is banned in a swath of the eastern Gulf of Mexico that extends 100-125 miles off the Florida panhandle and around 235 miles west of Tampa.

The Obama administration and some Senate lawmakers have proposed giving oil-and-gas producers greater access to the eastern Gulf, but drilling faces new attacks as a result of the ongoing BP oil spill.

Cross-posted to the Twitter Room

* Reactions vary to the division of the federal Minerals Management Service

As we wrote about yesterday (here and here), the Interior Department plans to carve up its Minerals Management Service, the branch that regulates offshore drilling and collects billions of dollars in leasing and royalty revenue.

The plan would create a separate agency responsible for offshore safety and environmental protection.

Several senior Democrats had good things to say about the plan. But not everyone is impressed.

“Some in Congress and outside groups expressed skepticism that the organizational change alone would end what they called perverse incentives leading to rushed safety reviews and a regulatory system that largely allows the industry to police itself,” the New York Times reports.

A panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee holds a hearing Wednesday with officials from BP and other companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil rig accident and spill. Ahead of the hearing, committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said that new legislation may result from the probe. Michael O'Brien reports on Waxman's comments in our Blog Briefing Room.

The legislation faces uncertain prospects including no Republican co-sponsor and outrage over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

A BP executive said an “anomalous” pressure test on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig could have signaled to workers something was wrong hours before the massive explosion that led to the Gulf oil spill.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the new "strong and independent" agency will oversee offshore oil-and-gas safety and environmental protections.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he'll huddle with key chairmen after an end-of-month recess to discuss the future of energy and climate legislation.

Reid acknowledged the energy and climate bill set for unveiling Wednesday by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), but signaled he wouldn't figure out how to proceed with that and other energy and climate efforts until after the Memorial Day recess.

"What I intend to do after that is let this bill be seen by everyone that is interested in the subject, and I think the week that we get back after the Memorial Day recess, and I'll get all the chairmen together and take a look at what we need to do with energy for this year," Reid told reporters at the Capitol following a weekly caucus luncheon.

The majority leader has said that an energy bill would be one of the top Democratic priorities after they finish up work on Wall Street reform, though Reid has also said that the Senate's energy and climate bill might be less sweeping than what Kerry and Lieberman plan to unveil. That plan was negotiated in part with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who withdrew from the effort in recent weeks.

"I can do one this big because I have a couple of Republicans who would help me on that," Reid said Sunday on the Spanish-language network Univision. "But the big bill that we need to do, they are not helping us on that, but I can do a smaller energy bill.”

The House passed a significantly more expansive climate change bill last June in a close vote. Some Democrats had sought to advance similar legislation in the Senate, though those efforts stalled last year in committee.

Cross-posted to the Briefing Room.