Democrats offer to scale back climate bill; might be written to apply only to power plants

"Key Senate Democrats offered ... to scale back their ambitious plans to cap greenhouse gases across multiple sectors of the economy" during a White House meeting today, Politico's Darren Samuelshon writes. The meeting with President Obama included "skeptical Republicans," Politico reports.

Obama still wants to put a price on greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels, but "he could agree to a more limited climate and energy bill than any the senators had previously drafted," according to Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the chief sponsors. "Lieberman said a couple of Republicans in the meeting promised to keep talking about the prospect of a less-ambitious climate program that includes a price on carbon, though he wouldn't name names," Politico reports.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is drafting a bill that would focus on coal by applying only to emissions by power plants. Rural electric cooperatives get 80 percent of their power from burning coal. The idea "is gaining traction in Washington amid fresh concerns about what carrots might be dangled in front of power plants as incentive to sign on," reports Robin Bravender of Environment & Energy News. "Utilities are divided on the approach. Some say a cap on just their sector will offer certainty and is better than none at all; others are reluctant to go it alone."

Evan Lehmann and Saqib Rahim of E&E report on ClimateWire, "Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe expressed support yesterday for making electric utilities pay fees for releasing carbon dioxide, giving Senate Democrats a critical Republican supporter in their stalled pursuit of climate legislation." Snowe "has been discussing the utility option privately with colleagues for months." (Read more, subscription required)

UPDATE, June 30: Snowe's Maine seatmate and fellow Republican moderate, Susan Collins, also backs the idea, Juliet Eilperin of The Washington Post reports, but "Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said any measure that imposes mandatory limits on greenhouse gases and makes emitters pay for carbon dioxide output 'will not sell in this country.' And Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who also attended the meeting, said he told the president to focus instead on pouring federal dollars into energy research and development, building nuclear power plants, and electrifying the nation's auto fleet." (Read more)