Congress has returned from summer vacation with much of the news coverage focusing on health care reform, but does anyone remember the clean energy and climate bill?

Shortly before the summer recess the Waxman-Markey bill, the largest and most progressive energy bill, passed the House of Representatives. The Senate has not passed, or even completed drafting its own version.

Politico reported that Senators are fighting about which committee will draft the legislation. Chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California believes her committee should have control over the legislation, while Sen. Max Baucus of Montana and Finance Committee Chairman believes his committee should draft the legislation. A quick turnaround of a Senate climate bill after the month-long recess is looking less and less likely.

Meanwhile the environmental advocacy group, Repower America has sent out action-response letters telling their members to send this letter to their Senators urging the them to support a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill within the year. Compromise and cooperation must ensue for the clean energy and climate bill to pass both chambers.

On Wednesday a Senate committee approved an energy bill that many environmentalists criticized. The bill would open large areas close to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling and guaranteed a federal loan for an Alaska gas pipeline project.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 15-to-8 on the bill. Democrats on the committee pushed to require utilities to have 15 percent of electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar by 2021, but the bill had exemptions that would reduce that goal.

This standard is considerably weaker than the House energy and climate bill sponsored by Democratic Representatives Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, which is expected to be voted on in the House before the Congressional Fourth of July break.

The House bill is more progressive with more caps on greenhouse gas emissions and higher standards for renewable energy sources. The Senate bill is clearly a compromise between Democratic and Republican committee members. Republicans committee members fought for increased petroleum reserves, expanding drilling to within 45 miles of coastlines and increasing the number of nuclear energy facilities.

The Washington Post reported that a dozen environmental groups wrote a joint letter to the committee of opposition to the bill. The groups criticized the renewable energy standards of being too low and expressed concerns for wildlife off the west coast of Florida because the bill would allow more offshore oil and gas drilling.

The results of the House bill, which will likely be voted on first, could dramatically change the Senate bill that does not go as far with renewable energy or limiting greenhouse gases.

The buzz around the nation is that the Senate may vote on the economic stimulus bill as early as this evening. The legislation currently includes a clean energy financing initiative, which, according to NPR, “would provide loan guarantees and other measures to encourage the private sector to invest billions of dollars in green energy.”

Some senators are trying to cut funding for clean energy investments from the bill, however. President Obama put more pressure on Congress earlier today to pass the bill, so with time running out, it’s imperative that we speak up in support of clean energy technology, which will stimulate the economy by creating green jobs and reduce global warming in the process.

Use the Senate website to find your senators’ phone numbers, and call them now to encourage them to keep the stimulus green.

ISTOCKPHOTO

Last month coal ash from a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) power plant flooded parts of eastern Tennessee. An official, Tom Kilgore, from the coal-burning power plant testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Thursday and admitted that the plant’s containment ponds had not been adequately repaired after previous leaks.

The inadequate repairs along with heavy rains may have lead to the dike-break on Dec. 22 at the Kingston Fossil Plant, which released 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash sludge. The sludge covered hundreds of acres in rural neighborhoods and contaminated the Emory River compromising the drinking water supply.

No one was injured but coal ash contains heavy metals such as, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury. In large amounts, these metals have been linked to cancers, respiratory diseases, nervous system disorders and reproductive damage.

Kilgore said TVA is willing to buy the affected properties from residents and possibly sell them back after the clean up. But some view this as a larger environmental issue.

The New York Times reported that Senate Committee Chairwoman, Barbara Boxer, of California, passed around a large Mason jar of sludge from the spill at the committee hearing. She said the spill showed the need for strict regulations of fly ash and closer oversight of the TVA.

“The federal government has the power to regulate these wastes, and inaction has allowed this enormous volume of toxic material to go largely unregulated,” Boxer said.

Boxer has pushed for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to declare coal ash a hazardous waste and create national standards for its storage.

Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee agreed.

“TVA needs to do more, the state needs to do more and it may be that the federal government through the EPA needs to do more,” Alexander said.

According to the New York Times, more than 1,300 dumps in the United States contain billions of gallons of fly ash, leaving legislators worried about the possibility of another major spill.