Washington (Platts)--2Apr2013/406 pm EDT/2006 GMT

Despite assurances from the White House and little traction from Democrats in US Congress, a key Republican senator believes that a carbon tax is President Barack Obama's top priority.

"That is the ultimate goal of this president," said Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, in an interview with WND.com, a conservative news outlet.

During the interview, which was posted Tuesday, Vitter, the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, blasted Obama's energy policies, which he indicated favor high cost renewables, including wind and solar, over fossil fuels. He said these policies were putting gasoline and electricity prices "through the roof."

"An all-of-the-above energy strategy should not be all-of-the-above only by putting the price of carbon based fuels through the roof and really hurting the middle class," Vitter said.

Vitter said the White House would attempt to implement a carbon tax through a "shift into administrative overdrive," due to the lack of support for such a tax on Capitol Hill.

In his first news conference after his re-election, Obama said he would not pursue such a tax due to a lack of congressional support, but Senators Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat and chairwoman of the environment committee, and Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, have introduced legislation to enact a fee of $20 per ton of carbon or methane equivalent emissions from refineries, natural gas processing plants, coal mines and other sources of carbon-fueled emissions.

Also, Representative Henry Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and three other Democrats have unveiled the initial details of a forthcoming bill which would set the price of carbon at between $15 to $35 per ton and raise it by 2% to 8% per year.

Last month, Vitter unveiled a new energy bill aimed at boosting oil, natural gas and coal production on public lands, weakening federal regulations for future energy projects and effectively blocking new US carbon pollution rules.

--Brian Scheid, brian_scheid@platts.com 
--Edited by Katharine Fraser, katharine_fraser@platts.com

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