By Darren Goode and Andrew Restuccia | POLITICO
The pent-up demand for Senate energy legislation may doom the few bills on the topic that seemed to have a chance of passing.
Exhibit A: Sens. Jeanne Shaheen’s and Rob Portman’s bipartisan proposal to promote energy efficiency, which may be close to coming to the Senate floor. While the bill has drawn bipartisan support, backers worry that the bill could become a magnet for divisive messaging amendments on topics like climate change, the Keystone XL pipeline and ethanol.
If Shaheen-Portman fails, other possible energy-policy vehicles could include a bill aimed at saving the nation’s helium reserve — which, while only tangentially tied to energy, has the advantage of needing to pass by Sept. 30. But even that bill could run aground under a host of unrelated amendments.
Both bills could fall victim to the dearth of options in a Senate where major climate legislation has been dead for three years and prospects are uncertain for a sweeping update of energy provisions in the Tax Code. Tax reform would probably be the only opportunity to affect a wide range of energy industries, from oil and gas to wind and solar.
