On Tuesday, Senate and House Democratic leaders realizing that their comprehensive energy bills were dead on arrival in the Senate, introduced watered-down energy bills.
The bills include a provision to address the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, including overhauling the Minerals Management Service, which had been "regulating" offshore drilling. The legislation would also lift liability caps on companies responsible for damaging spills, as well as, allocate more money to spill-related research and restoration projects.
The New York Times' John Broder reports, "The narrowly written Senate bill falls far short of the comprehensive legislation on energy and climate change that Senate Democrats and the White House have been pursuing for more than a year. Senate leaders abandoned that goal last week, conceding that they did not have the support or the time to pass any bill to begin to control the greenhouse gases that are contributing to the warming of the planet."
The House passed a comprehensive energy bill last June.
"This bill does not address every issue of importance to our nation's energy challenges," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, "and we have to continue to work to find bipartisan agreement on a comprehensive bill to help reduce pollution and deal with the very real threat that global warming poses."
While President Obama endorsed the Senate and House bills, he said more work was needed.
"That legislation is an important step in the right direction," Obama said. "But I want to emphasize it's only the first step. And I intend to keep pushing for broader reform, including climate legislation, because if we've learned anything from the tragedy in the gulf, it's that our current energy policy is unsustainable."
Despite the lack of a comprehensive energy bill, the oil industry is still not happy.
President of the American Petroleum Institute Jack Gerard said that the Democratic bills would increase the cost of oil production, prohibit deep-water off-shore drilling, drive small and midsize companies out of business and increase taxes.
"We remain concerned about what we're hearing," Gerard told the Times. "I would encourage the House and Senate to protect American jobs as they consider appropriate responses to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill."
The bills are scheduled for debate later this week with voting set for early next week.
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SOURCE: Lawmakers Offer Bills to Address Spill Issues. John Broder. July 28, 2010.
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