Everything is wonderful, especially for Big Oil

President Obama spoke to a group at the White House on Earth Day. He was optimistic, as he usually is. According to Politico, who had a reporter  there, President Obama spent about 20 minutes at the private Rose Garden reception marking the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, but he only spoke for a few minutes.

Among those spotted by the pool reporter in what POTUS called a “good-looking crowd” of about 200: Energy Sec. Steven Chu, Labor Sec. Hilda Solis, HUD Sec. Shaun Donovan, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA), Dale Kildee (D-MI) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Plus actress Sigourney Weaver. !  [Was James Cameron around too?]

Not in attendance were the three senators writing the climate change bill expected to be introduced Monday: Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John Kerry (D-MA).

Maybe because the bill, to be introduced next Monday, is not a climate change bill.  It’s a fossil fuel giveaway bill.  And it is going to be even weaker than the Waxman-Markey bill that passed the Congress already!   Here is what Mother Jones has found out about this mysterious bill that no one has seen yet:

In the teleconference, [on Thursday April 22] organized by the We Can Lead coalition, Sen. Kerry outlined specific details from the bill that have not previously been publicly available. Here’s a rundown:

The bill would remove the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act, and the states’ authority to set tougher emissions standards than the federal government.
There will be no fee—or “gas tax”—on transportation fuels. Instead, oil companies would also be required to obtain pollution permits but will not trade them on the market like other polluters. How this would work is not yet clear.
Agriculture would be entirely exempt from the cap on carbon emissions.   [holy cow that's stupid]
Manufacturers would not be included under a cap on greenhouse gases until 2016. [also weird and wrong]
The bill would provide government-backed loan guarantees for the construction of 12 new nuclear power plants.
It will contain at least $10 billion to develop technologies to capture and store emissions from coal-fired power plants.
There will be new financial incentives for natural gas. [a fossil fuel that emits CO2]

The bill would place an upper and lower limit on the price of pollution permits, known as a hard price collar. Businesses like this idea because it ensures a stable price on carbon. Environmental advocates don’t like the idea because if the ceiling is set too low, industry will have no financial incentive to move to cleaner forms of energy.
The energy bill passed by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee last year will be adopted in full, which has sparked concerns among environmentalists for its handouts to nuclear and fossil fuel interests.

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