Some of the more moderate Democratic senators are asking the White House to shelve  the cap-and-trade legislation, according to a report in the Politico.

Mary Landrieu (D-La.) told the Politico that she and several Senate Democrats told the Obama Administration that the cap-and-trade bill should be put off.

It seems that the contentious battle over health care has taken its toll. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) have all indicated that passage of cap and trade next year is unlikely.

While some Republicans, including Susan Collins (R-Maine), Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)  have been working on possible bipartisan climate bills, only Senator Graham supports a broad cap-and-trade system, the other Republicans are offering more targeted proposals.

Ultimately, there may be little appetite during an election year for engaging in another heated battle over a massive change to the U.S. economy, which most Republicans oppose, when the main focus of the American people is not cap-and-trade, but jobs.

Photo: Library of Congress - Loading a lake freighter with coal at the Pennsylvania R.R. coal docks for shipment to other Great Lake ports, Sandusky, Ohio, May 1943/ Jack Delano http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179215838/

Further reading:

Cantwell-Collins bill - http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/71995-cantwell-collins-climate-bill-attracts-new-support-but-may-lose-some

Lugar examines cap power plants http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2009/11/18/2

Graham defends cap and trade - http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2009/10/21/graham-defends-cap-and-trade-position/

Copyright 2009 - K.J.Collins