BIOMASS HUB

The Hill reports that a top lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Wednesday that the broad climate change and energy bill under construction in the Senate is moving in a direction that’s “largely in sync” with industry goals.

Bruce Josten, the chamber’s top lobbyist, spoke to reporters Wednesday after a host of industry trade group officials met in the Capitol with Sens. John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) about the bill the senators are crafting.

The fairest comment would be, directionally speaking, the way they are trying to conform and shape this bill I would suggest is largely in sync with what most people in American industry think is the direction you are going to have to go if you are going to have a successful program.  They are being very constructive, they are trying to figure out how to make this work for the American economy, the different sectors of the economy that are going to be affected one way or another, and I think just as, if not more importantly, for the American consumer.

Kerry, Graham and Lieberman are scrapping the “economy-wide” cap-and-trade bill the House approved in favor of a more sector-by-sector approach.  This would include a cap-and-trade plan for power plants, while greenhouse gases from motor fuels would instead be addressed through a consumer fee.

The senators plan to complete draft legislation as soon as late next week and send it to the Congressional Budget Office for scoring and to EPA for modeling, but they also say that schedule may slip.