Gulf Oil Spill: Blessing in Disguise?

With a new health care bill passed and ready to be implemented and now the possibility of a climate change bill being ratified with increased attention brought on by the oil spill, this could be a monumental term for Congress. But keep the emphasis on could.

Last summer, the house passed a version of the infamous 'climate change' bill that environmentalists only dreamed about and coal and oil feared. The bill seems to be making progress as a compromise bill was brought forth on Wednesday in the senate. The major problem is that it is only supported by the democrats along party lines. They will need support from a few of their fellow GOP members in order to get the 60 votes needed to get the bill through the senate without being filibustered. But even after the senate, this bill will have to go back to the house to be ratified as it has some different terms.

This climate bill kicks to the curb the national standard of emissions, instead focusing on emission standards for each individual sector. And even with the big oil spill in the gulf, it aims to encourage offshore drilling. The kicker is that it requires an investigation to take place, carried out by the Department of the Interior, to determine if a state will be economically or environmentally affected by a spill and leaves the final decision up to the state. On top of all this, billions of dollars of federal money would make its way to clean coal technologies and improving the national transportation infrastructure and efficiency.

Regardless of what the bill entails, there are still two sides that are very opinionated. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) stated that "Whatever its intentions, this bill is little more than a job-killing national energy tax". Greenpeace has found the bill to be "a hand out" to big oil and coal and opposes the bill believing that it is not strict enough on carbon emissions. On the other side, Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) is optimistic in the bill and finds that reaching 60 votes is "doable" because of the support of big business such as Duke Energy, Honeywell, Dow Corning, and the Edison Electric Institute. These businesses make up the republican base.

Whatever the case, the new oil spill may be an environmental blessing in disguise. It has instilled a new hope into a climate bill that was once seen as dead on the senate floor. It may take a few more compromises, but this bill could make this year in congress one of the most important and memorable years in the past few decades.

More on the issue from the Washington Post