Washington (Platts)--10Dec2009/600 pm EST/2300 GMT

Three US Senate negotiators on climate change released Thursday what they called a framework for future climate and energy legislation -- a summary they said was intended to leave plenty of latitude for future negotiations with colleagues.

Senators John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joseph Lieberman offered the four-page document to help inform a UN summit on climate change, which is being held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"We did this for Copenhagen, quite frankly," said Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has been working with Kerry and Lieberman to hammer out a bipartisan compromise on climate and energy legislation. "We wanted to give the president some guidance as to what he could say."

In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, the White House called the framework "another significant step in the effort to pass comprehensive energy reform."

The senators said that, although it contained very few details, the document reflected extensive talks they have had with Republican and Democratic colleagues.

Graham said details will come as senators signed on to support the bill. "We're not going to negotiate against ourselves," he said. Loan guarantees for nuclear energy, revenue from offshore drilling and other specifics would be negotiated with senators, he said.

"The details that you are asking about will come with a new bill," said Graham. "And that new bill, if it's going to pass, has to have more Republicans than Lindsey Graham."

Lieberman, a Connecticut Independent, said more than 60 senators have indicated they would like to vote for the final energy and climate bill, although Graham remains virtually the only Republican who has shown any interest in doing so and several moderate Democrat senators also have said they will not support it.

Kerry said the summary was intentionally vague to allow the Senate Finance and Agriculture committees to contribute language of their own on topics under their jurisdiction.

"The reason there is not specific language today is very specifically because of the process that we are honoring within the Senate," the Massachusetts Democrat said. "We don't want to jump ahead of their committee process."

When the panels complete their work in the first two months of 2010, said Kerry, "We will work with them to bring the best of their language to this ... process."

The summary calls for a 17% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 compared with 2005 levels, a target in line with both a bill (H.R. 2454) that passed the US House of Representatives last June and a target President Barack Obama plans to take to Copenhagen next week. It is less aggressive than the 20% target that Kerry proposed in an initial climate bill (S. 1733) introduced earlier this fall with Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer.

The summary also calls for increased US offshore petroleum production done "in a way that sends money back to the states that opt to drill and also provides new federal government revenues to advance climate mitigation goals."

For nuclear, the senators pledged to "make it easier to finance the construction of new nuclear power plants and improve the efficiency of the licensing process."

Lieberman, who heads an informal bipartisan working group on nuclear energy, said the group proposes more nuclear loan guarantees, tax breaks and a more streamlined approach to nuclear permitting.

The summary also said that the senators were considering language to mandate a maximum and minimum price to control the cost of emissions allowances under the bill. S. 1733 contained what Boxer called a "soft collar," which provides only a limited supply of additional allowances if prices reach a certain dollar amount.

"We are considering a number of mechanisms -- including a price collar and strategic reserve -- to moderate the price of carbon and prevent extreme market volatility while maintaining the environmental integrity of the pollution-reduction program," the summary said.

Lieberman told reporters that Democrats had said they would look at robust nuclear and offshore oil and natural gas provisions, if doing so would allow a climate change bill to pass the Senate, and that unnamed Republicans had indicated a willingness to entertain a cap on carbon.

"We have a got a lot of work to do to get to 60 votes," said Lieberman, referring to the vote threshold needed to pass controversial legislation in the Senate. "But I think we're off to a good start."

Asked for names of possible Republican supporters, the Connecticut senator said "In time, we'll see.

"We've put together a package that will invite everybody -- people from both sides -- to take a move in a direction they haven't been before to achieve something," he said.

--Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com