July 03, 2009 12:10 AM UTC

Bennet Gives Assessment, Qualified Support For Climate Bill

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Aspen Times reports:

The energy-climate bill passed last week in the House will face an even tougher battle in the Senate, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet predicted Wednesday during a stop at the Aspen campus of Colorado Mountain College.

The Colorado Democrat, in town to attend the Aspen Ideas Festival, met with CMC administrators and other local representatives for a briefing on the college’s new Green Building Academy initiative, aimed at certifying building professionals in energy efficiency and green building. The goal is to help residents meet the changing needs in the workplace in the midst of state and national efforts to stimulate the economy through the creation of “green jobs.”

…The climate bill that narrowly passed in the House last week, however, “needs a lot of work,” Bennet said. The legislation calls for the nation’s first limits on pollution linked to global warming and aims to usher in a new era of cleaner, but more costly energy while reducing the country’s reliance on foreign oil, but Bennet said the bill is too weighted toward investment in clean coal and he called for better balance between coal and natural gas.

The legislation, he said, also lacks sufficient incentives for renewable energy. Several attendees at Wednesday’s gathering also called for incentives to make the green push viable…

“I do think it will increase energy bills, but not as much as what they’re saying,” Bennet said. “We’ve got to be able to demonstrate that – to show people the math.”

If the resulting costs to the consumer are onerous, the legislation won’t pass in the Senate, he predicted.

Bennet’s right about that, but he also correctly points out that the cost estimate to consumers in this bill ranges from relatively modest increases as figured by most nonpartisan sources and the CBO, to totally ridiculous scare-tactic warnings of thousands of dollars pushed by the energy companies and some Republicans. Our read of Bennet’s comments, while still not as unequivocal as either supporters or detractors would prefer, suggests that he hears what the bill’s opponents are saying but is not buying into it. Which is more than could be said for John Salazar a few days ago, and should leave the bill’s supports feeling a little better as it moves to the Senate.