The Senate approved a new grant program Friday aimed at boosting U.S. manufacturing of energy efficient dishwashers, refrigerators and clothes washers.

The amendment to the tax extenders bill on the Senate floor allows manufacturers to receive grants in lieu of existing tax credits for increasing production of the products in the U.S.

The amendment – accepted without debate or vote – was sponsored by Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio).

The New York Times looks deeply into a much-heralded Everglades restoration deal – and finds a clear win for big sugar while the eco-payoff is uncertain.

Gov. Charlie Crist (R) announced plans in 2008 for a massive buyout of United States Sugar in order to restore the unique but badly damaged ecosystem.

“Nearly two years later, the governor’s ambitious plan to reclaim the river of grass, as the famed wetlands are known, is instead on track to rescue the fortunes of United States Sugar,” the story finds. It says the company was in the driver’s seat from the start, and that state officials made deals that ran counter to the immediate needs of the Everglades.

The three senators writing compromise climate legislation are lobbying business groups in hopes of winning their support for the effort.

The unified group will carry the Alliance for Climate Protection name and will be headquartered in Washington.

Read more...

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) isn’t backing colleague Jay Rockefeller’s (D-W.Va.) new bill to force a two-year timeout before EPA can implement rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other industrial facilities.

Both are advocates of their home state’s coal industry. But Byrd doesn’t think Rockefeller’s plan is needed because EPA has already pledged to move cautiously on the rules and will not begin implementing them this year.

“I do not plan to cosponsor Senator Rockefeller’s legislation at this time.  I was encouraged by the response last week from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to a letter that I signed along with other Senators that would delay into next year the application of stronger standards regarding increased efficiency or reduced pollution at large power plants and factories. Following up on my previous conversations with her in my office, I take her at her word,” Byrd said in a prepared statement.

Byrd suggested that trying to block EPA outright isn’t the best strategy for coal.

“As I have pointed out in my op-ed of December 3, 2009 entitled ‘Coal Must Embrace the Future,’ West Virginia needs to have a seat at the negotiating table. I am continuing to have significant discussions about how to ensure the future of coal as a long-term energy resource. I am reluctant to give up on talks that might produce benefits for West Virginia’s coal interests by seeming to turn away from on-going negotiations.  I will continue to negotiate with all who are earnestly engaged in the pursuit of a proper balance between saving jobs, protecting the environment and ensuring the health of our communities,” Byrd said.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says there’s no “secret agenda” to designate large new national monuments without congressional input, but some lawmakers want insurance.

Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R-Mont.) introduced a bill Thursday that prevents new designations in his state without a green light from Congress, following colleagues in Utah who have offered bills that create the same restriction in their state.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) believes his colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is getting a “bad rap” from state Republicans.

Uh oh. As Congress debates how to rein in climate change, scientists are reporting that an area in the Arctic is seeping methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Warmer waters, which could be attributable to global warming that's already occurring, may be thawing undersea permafrost that had effectively kept the methane bottled up.

Natalie Shakhova, a University of Alaska, Fairbanks, scientist, said it is too soon to tell whether a dangerous release of methane looms. But it’s a concern: “Although carbon dioxide is far more abundant and persistent in the atmosphere, ton for ton atmospheric methane traps at least 25 times as much heat,” in the New York Times.

The study is published in the current issue of Science magazine.

EPA on Thursday declined to criticize Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s (D-W.Va.) new bill that would block regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from stationary industrial facilities like power plants and factories for two years.

His plan is less sweeping than Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s  (R-Alaska) proposal that would completely nullify EPA’s power to impose limits on heat-trapping emissions.

Here’s the prepared statement from EPA Press Secretary Adora Andy: