Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Energy Lobby Split on Climate, Thrilling Greens

Natural gas companies squabble with Big Oil as Senate negotiates

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 19, 2009 6:30 AM CDT
Email

(Newser) – With the Senate set to consider legislation to tax carbon and rein in global warming, a split has emerged among the energy lobby that may make it easier to pass a clean-energy law. Natural gas producers favor a bill, while their colleagues in the oil industry oppose it; electric companies are sparring over whether to favor coal or renewables; and wind and solar producers are angling for advantages. All the confused lobbying, says one environmentalist, "tells you people believe it is real."

Petrified oil producers have been flogging studies warning of $5-a-gallon gasoline under a cap-and-trade program—and a coal PR firm was caught sending Congress letters under fake names. But natural gas producers, longtime allies of oil, have formed a separate lobby and are collaborating with the bill's sponsors to get the best possible deal. For one green analyst, the infighting is great news: "It’s much harder to pass clean-energy legislation when big oil and other energy interests are united in their opposition."

Al Gore testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on global climate change.
Al Gore testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on global climate change.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
A coal-fired plant in Georgia, seen in 2007.
A coal-fired plant in Georgia, seen in 2007.   (AP Photo/Gene Blythe, File)
John Kerry, who is spearheading climate change legislation in the Senate, speaks on environmental policy earlier this year.
John Kerry, who is spearheading climate change legislation in the Senate, speaks on environmental policy earlier this year.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Be the first to comment on this story.

 
oil • coal • Senate • renewable energy • natural gas • carbon taxes • oil industry • Waxman-Markey

More Newser Stories

Israel's Natural-Gas Find Is Biggest in 10 Years

7 GOP Senators Can Change the World

Drill, Baby, Drill!: Palin

Minister Who Freed Lockerbie Bomber Has Bro in Oil Biz

'Bourgeois' Golf Courses Tee Off Chávez
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne