Major oil companies — which barely flinched when Congress moved to quadruple a liability tax they pay for oil-spill cleanup — are aggressively fighting Democrats’ plans to scale back industry tax breaks worth billions.

Lieberman predicted most liberal senators would support the legislation as a "significant step forward" even though they want more.

A draft of the Ways and Means green energy jobs bill costing approximately $22 billion surfaced in the Capitol and along K Street on Thursday.
 
The draft is by no means the bill that Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) hopes to mark up next week, but rather a list of ideas that could be incorporated in the final legislation.

BP says oil has stopped leaking into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since the April 20 explosion of the company-run Deepwater Horizon rig.

House Democratic leaders said Thursday that they are on the cusp of making decisions about the scope of oil spill response legislation that is headed for the House floor before the August recess.

An Energy and Commerce Committee bill to improve drilling safety appears almost certain to be in the mix.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) huddled with a group of committee chairmen in Pelosi’s office Thursday, shortly after two more panels cleared spill-related bills.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday approved new oil drilling safeguards in a 48-0 vote that came shortly after members reached a deal that mollified GOP concerns about the plan's scope.

The "Blowout Prevention Act" imposes a suite of new requirements on offshore and onshore wells, such as redundant systems on blowout preventers, third-party certification of the devices, and new well design standards.

The vote followed a deal that alleviated GOP concerns that the bill would encroach on state oversight powers.

A key part of the deal prevents the new rules from applying to wells on state lands unless federal officials determine that a blowout would lead to major harms, and that the state cannot regulate effectively.

It also allows states to challenge such decisions.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), who helped negotiate the deal, praised the measure and the negotiations before the vote.

"It shows that Congress and this committee can work when there are good faith efforts on both sides," said Barton, the panel's top Republican.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a senior member of the committee, called it a strong response to the BP oil spill.

"Current regulations plainly are not adequate," he said. "The BP Act responds to this gap by establishing minimum standards for well technologies and practices."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) plans to bring bills responding to the BP spill to the floor before the August recess.

Obama in Michigan on Thursday argued that his administration’s investments in alternative energy have blunted the recession.

BP must pay federal royalties on oil it is capturing from the leaking Gulf of Mexico well and petroleum that escaped into the ocean.

Environmental groups are sticking to their guns in opposing efforts to pre-empt or delay Clean Air Act standards in exchange for new carbon pollution controls.

Thirty-one groups sent a letter to senators Wednesday to argue against pending proposals to do just that as part of a larger Senate effort to push through a first-time carbon-pricing program focused on electric utilities. “Such provisions are simply unacceptable,” the groups wrote.

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) have proposed creating a task force to look at giving Clean Air Act exemptions and delays to the utility sector for ozone, mercury, lead and other non-carbon pollutants.

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