Over in our Blog Briefing Room, Michael O'Brien reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) believes the Gulf of Mexico oil spill should prompt the Senate to pause efforts to pass energy legislation.

The liberal blog Firedoglake.com is launching a new TV ad that uses the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to drum up pressure on President Barack Obama to rethink plans for expanded offshore drilling.

The ad will run on Washington, D.C. cable stations beginning next week.

It combines images of the April 20 rig explosion and spill with Obama’s late March speech announcing wider offshore oil-and-gas leasing, including his comment that “oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills.”

West Virginia Sens. Robert Byrd (D) and Jay Rockefeller (D) want language added to the Wall Street reform bill on the Senate floor that forces mining and oil companies to publicly disclose information about safety hazards at their operations.

Their amendments highlight growing political pressure on both industries in the wake of fatal accidents: the April 5 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia that killed 29 workers, and the April 20 blast at a Gulf of Mexico oil rig that claimed 11 lives.

“Investors ought to know if a company is jeopardizing its workforce in order to maximize its profits,” said Byrd in a prepared statement.

The oil spill makes it harder to pass energy and climate legislation, according to one of its principal authors. But Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) also told Environment & Energy Publishing in an interview that he could vote for what he still refers to as "our bill" so long as it isn't “substantially changed.”

Graham had withdrawn his support for the bill he helped to craft over a separate dispute on immigration reform, prompting a public roll-out to be cancelled and a new round of questions about the legislation's chances this year. Graham's interview gives bill supporters some reason to hope.

“If it doesn't get substantially changed, and I don't know how it's going to change, but I could see myself being the 60th vote for an energy-independent, job creation, clean air bill. It's pretty clear that I found it's something I can be for.”

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* Containment dome lowered to stem oil flow 1-mile below the surface

Crews lowered a 100-ton steel and concrete container to the ocean floor early Friday in hopes of slowing the free flow of oil from the ruptured well.

From the Associated Press this morning: “The box was about 4,000 feet underwater before dawn Friday, with another 1,000 feet to go, Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert said.

A crane late Thursday lowered the containment vessel designed to collect as much as 85 percent of the oil spewing into the Gulf and funnel it up to a tanker. Eventually the crane would give way to underwater robots that will secure the contraption over the main leak at the bottom, a journey that would take hours.

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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday that no new offshore drilling permits will be issued while Interior conducts a safety review the White House ordered in response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Salazar’s announcement followed a Houston meeting with officials from BP to discuss their efforts to halt and contain the spill. The oil giant leased the Deepwater Horizon rig that blew up April 20, creating the ongoing spill from a damaged undersea well.

President Barack Obama in late April ordered a 30-day review of “additional precautions and technologies” that may be needed for offshore development. Interior intends to submit the report by May 28.

Lieberman and co-author Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) are under pressure from some coastal-state Democrats and environmentalists.

The House passed a “cash for caulkers” bill that would pay homeowners to renovate their homes to conserve energy.

The measure passed 246-161. It authorizes $5.7 billion over two years to encourage homeowners to install better insulation, replace old, leaky windows or perform other energy efficiency efforts.

President Barack Obama called the legislation a “common sense bill that will create jobs, save consumers money, and strengthen our economy.”

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A bill raising the liability cap on companies responsible for oil spills like the one in the Gulf of Mexico appears to have broad support in Congress. But some legal experts question whether it would violate the U.S. Constitution.

The bill would increase the cap on economic damages to $10 billion, up from the $75 million limit now in place. President Barack Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid have said they support raising the damages cap, although the White House hasn’t suggested a final figure.

The new, far higher limit in legislation introduced on Capitol Hill would apply retroactively to April 15, which, not coincidentally, is five days before the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that eventually triggered the massive oil spill. Bill supporters like Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) acknowledge a big point of the measure is to make sure businesses and communities along the coasts hurt by the spill are adequately compensated by BP.

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