As of Friday, December 7, a day which will live in infamy because of the Senate Republicans' unwillingness to overcome the undue influence of the special interests of the electric utility and oil & gas industries (in cahoots with three Democrats), the renewable portfolio standard of 15% and the tax revisions providing $21 billion in revenue to support renewables looked as if they would be stripped from the superb energy package that had come over from the House. (See No Surprises (Unfortunately) below.) A frustrated Rep. Rahm Emanuel said last week: "As an amateur student of constitutional history and as a member of Congress, I have come to the conclusion that the Senate was a historic mistake." (I wrote about this at The Hill in July.)
Now we hear that the Senate is indeed going to strip the 15% RPS but leave the tax provisions substantially intact. See U.S. Senate Democrats to revive energy bill from the "Detroit Free Press" today. Ranking Energy and Natural Resources Committee member, Pete Domenici, warns, however, that "It's a wasted time and effort to pass a bill with $21 billion in taxes. The president will say "I told you not to do it.'"
Here's a little inside baseball on how the Senate came to abandon the RPS from a veteran energy beat reporter at "U.S. News & World Report."