Senate Democrats Abandon Carbon Rationing—For Now

Unable to muster 60 votes in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has pulled proposed legislation that would have imposed a cap on greenhouse gas emissions from utilities and mandated a federal renewable energy standard, requiring local distribution companies to buy high-priced wind and solar power. Instead, according to Politico, the Democratic leadership will attempt to pass a more limited energy bill in the fall that will have:

…low-hanging-fruit provisions dealing with the oil spill, Home Star energy efficiency upgrades, incentives for the conversion of trucking fleet to natural gas and the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

The death of the expensive and pork-laden carbon rationing scheme is good news for now. However, it is widely expected that the Democrats will lose control of the House of Representatives and reduce their membership in the Senate in the upcoming mid-term elections. Some commentators fear that defeated Democrats who are no longer beholden to their constituents will use the lame duck session in December to ram through carbon rationing (and much else).