Weekly Political Roundup: Energy’s Own Trial Balloon
Posted October 16, 2009 at 10:13 am 
Filed in: Energy Security, Energy Supply, Environment, Legislation After a largely discouraging first 9 months of the year, this was the kind of week energy security proponents needed. With Copenhagen on the horizon and the prospect of an unproductive year staring them in the face, leading Democrats swiftly changed their tune and their approach on energy and climate change policy efforts. A banner week for trial balloons, it seems.
E&E’s Darren Samuelsohn reported the trial balloon launch, “Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) last Sunday floated the broad outlines of a legislative agreement on energy and climate change, with potential deals that would speed up permitting for new nuclear power plants and also expand domestic energy production.”
“President Obama gave a nod yesterday to a budding bipartisan Senate effort on energy and climate legislation during a New Orleans town hall meeting where he also pledged to push for the bill’s passage once Congress finishes its work on health care.
“‘What I think we need to do is increase our domestic energy production,’ Obama said in response to a question about environmental policy from an audience member. ‘I’m in favor of finding environmentally sound ways to tap our oil and our natural gas.’”
“House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said it is ‘encouraging’ that Kerry and Graham are moving ahead on nuclear and domestic oil and gas production. ‘As a supporter of increased nuclear and domestic energy production, I think there is receptivity in the House to additional discussion on these issues,’ Hoyer said.”
Sure, words are just words until they become action, especially in Washington. But this uniform rhetorical shift itself is noteworthy, largely because it appeared so orchestrated. This trial balloon could be a game-changer, not only because it’s crunch time before Copenhagen, but also because the Democrats on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue do not want to be perceived by voters as dysfunctional or having squandered their golden opportunity to govern. In other words, they need a climate win for the international audience and they just need a win for their domestic audience. And since necessity is the mother of invention, they seem to have finally bought into the only approach that ever made sense: a grand compromise on the only top issue with bipartisan promise and recent bipartisan precedent, energy.
Yes, the window of opportunity is closing rapidly, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. As college students, we were never more focused and productive than the night before a final exam. As you can see further down the story, it looks like it’s going to be an all-nighter on the campus called Capitol Hill. Better grab a Red Bull, Mountain Dew, or put on a pot of coffee.
The E&E story continues, “Asked about the timing of a climate bill, Reid spokeswoman Regan Lachapelle replied, ‘President Obama has made it clear that he would like us to consider health insurance reform, financial reform and legislation to address global warming this year. We will await action by the committees and hope to consider the global warming legislation as soon as possible.’
“Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said there could be time to turn to the issue in early December. ‘We’re hoping by mid-November that we’ll be finished with the health care debate in the Senate, so that might work,’ he said.
“For now, Boxer is the only one of the five Senate committee leaders who has spelled out even a rough schedule for moving climate legislation. Boxer plans three days of hearings beginning Oct. 27, followed by a markup in November.
“Just looking at the calendar, at least two of the weeks next month would appear to be off limits because of a Nov. 11-13 recess for Veterans’ Day and another weeklong break for Thanksgiving.”
“But asked about his plans for the climate bill, Baucus on Wednesday said the timing is up to Reid. ‘That’s a leader’s call,’ Baucus said. ‘I just don’t know. Frankly, I think health care reform is going to take a little longer than people think.’”
And since Thanksgiving will be here before we know it, it wouldn’t be too premature to use the following analogy: another aspect to keep an eye on is whether the budding Kerry-Graham partnership ensures energy security’s place at the grown-ups’ table after all this time being relegated to the proverbial kids’ table. Pass the gravy, please…
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