Energy bill still stuck in neutral

So far, the worst oil spill in American history hasn’t jump-started climate change legislation in a gridlocked, shell-shocked Senate, as many Democrats had hoped it would.      

There is a powerful will on the Hill to punish BP by eliminating a cap on the company’s liability. But that fervor isn’t translating into support for the comprehensive energy reform bill unveiled by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) earlier this year, despite President Barack Obama’s vow to wrangle the votes personally. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will hold a make-or-break session Thursday with committee chairmen to discuss strategies for pushing the bill ahead. 

The renewed effort spurred by the Gulf crisis hasn’t bridged significant gaps between the parties on controversial drilling and cap-and-trade provisions — leaving the chances of getting a comprehensive climate change bill done this year in serious doubt. 

“Nothing is going to get 60 votes,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who pulled out of bipartisan climate talks earlier this year, hobbling the effort. 

“Cap and trade as we know it today is dead,” Graham said. “The Kerry-Lieberman-Graham thing fell apart because ... I just never saw a commitment from the Democratic leadership to pursue it.” 

Backers of energy reform see one possible but risky path to victory: piggybacking the Kerry-Lieberman package on a much more popular effort to eliminate the cap on BP’s liabilities for the Gulf spill. 

The hope is that senators will want to stick to the BP measure so badly that they’ll go along with larger energy reforms, including limits on carbon emissions. 

But there are two potential obstacles: One, Republicans and coal state Democrats might try to strip the BP language, which could deny the larger bill the votes needed for passage. 

And supporters will have to sell the idea to a skeptical White House, which is likely to demand passage of the BP bill with or without the larger energy measure. 

“A bill is going to pass — the question is what kind of bill is it going to be?” said Tony Kreindler of the Environmental Defense Fund. “The key is to have all the elements in it.” 

Reform proponents say their best hope is that Reid will sign off on a new effort that includes the liability measure, Kerry-Lieberman and a bill already passed out of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.).  

But Monday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) nearly shattered this delicate strategy by suggesting that Kerry-Lieberman be voted on separately as an amendment to Bingaman’s bill, which would almost certainly kill the measure. 

Schumer quickly walked back his statement — but not before Kerry called him personally to express his pique, according to staffers briefed on the exchange.