There’s an old saying in politics that laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.
That’s the feeling a lot of people are getting from the U.S. House and Senate these days, as they haggle over climate and energy bills in the midst of the health care reform debate and the little discussion about what to do about Afghanistan.
Mostly lost in the main stream media is the climate and energy debate that companies covering the spectrum of the energy industry sector are impatiently awaiting the outcome of. The outcome would decide the fate of at least the short-term future of domestic offshore drilling and those that service it.
The good news this week is both Republican and Democrat senators are trying to negotiate a potential compromise, which could provide a boost to those seeking to build new nuclear power plants (the last new U.S. plant was built in the U.S. in 1990) and, more importantly, expand domestic offshore drilling opportunities.
The bad news is these items are intended to be the carrot to lure Republicans into allowing cap-and-trade provisions to be included in what could be a combined climate and energy bill in the end.
Moderate senators, who seem to be taking over the debate recently, understand using nuclear power and expanded offshore drilling incentives could sway enough Republican votes to move the legislation. However, conservatives contend any cap-and-trade measure is nothing more than an “energy tax” that would offer no real environmental benefits, while pushing more companies and jobs overseas.
The cap-and-trade issue is central to a program aimed at limiting carbon dioxide emissions through a formula that would force oil refineries, power plants and others to comply with tighter emissions standards. However, the same companies could remain within legal limits by purchasing and trading a progressively smaller pool of emissions permits.
To make matters more bureaucratic for industry, debate is also raging on the regulation and oversight of the new carbon offset trading market which would be created.
Confused? So are they.
A bit of more good news, however, is it seems the self-titled “Gang of 20” senators that last year advanced a more conservative agenda, could have a voice in the final draft of the bill or bills. Among other things, the group pushed to open more of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to drilling, modernization of the nation’s power grid, boost the nation’s reliance on renewable power sources and give Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia the option of drilling off of their coasts.
Let’s hope this sausage is at least palatable when it’s finished.