By Rodney White on October 28, 2009 1:08 PM

The American Petroleum Institute and America's Natural Gas Alliance have many of the same members, but the associations' approaches to the Boxer-Kerry climate change bill in the Senate couldn't be more different.

"Like the House climate change bill, the Senate's Kerry-Boxer bill would hurt our economy by killing American jobs, increasing energy costs and undermining our nation's energy security," said API President Jack Gerard, the bad cop in what is shaping up as a bad cop-good cop routine. "The cost of Kerry-Boxer is even more than the House bill, and punishes consumers and businesses that depend on transportation fuels. Anyone who drives, rides a bus, flies on an airplane or ships goods to market is likely to see their costs rise."

Gerard also said the bill is "a giant tax that could kill more than 2 million net jobs, even after accounting for the creation of green jobs, according to multiple studies. With our economy struggling to recover from a historical recession, now is not the time to enact job-killing legislation."

America's Natural Gas Alliance President Rod Lowman, playing the good cop in this scenario, took a much more sanguine approach, saying in a news release Tuesday that his group "urges lawmakers to push for increased use of abundant, clean, American natural gas."

He cited the statistics on why natural gas is good for the environment and the country and added: "With more than 75% of Americans expecting abundant natural gas to play a significant role in America's energy future, we are ready to meet this challenge today."

No mention by ANGA -- a new producer trade group aimed getting gas a bigger voice in the debate -- of killing jobs or imposing excessive taxes or putting the country's energy security at risk. It will be interesting to see which approach -- if either -- succeeds as the Senate advances the bill.