Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who plans to retire from the Senate at the end of the year, Tuesday gave climate change legislation low odds of clearing the chamber in 2010 and said instead he believes the focus will be on the broad energy bill.

“My own sense is that in the aftermath of a very, very heavy lift on health care I think it is unlikely that the Senate will turn next to the very complicated and controversial subject of [climate change] and cap-and-trade legislation. I think it is more compelling to turn to an energy bill that is bipartisan” and addresses a myriad of energy issues, as well as climate change, Dorgan told reporters, according to the Houston Chronicle.

His comments came as a group called Securing America’s Future Energy released a new report finding that expanded oil and gas exploration and development in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) would not adversely affect military missions in that area. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), a long-time foe of drilling near the Florida coastline, condemned the findings, saying it remains the Defense Department’s policy that military exercises and training in the eastern Gulf are incompatible with oil and gas drilling operations.

The broad-based energy bill that was touted by Dorgan has been pending in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee since last June (see Daily GPI, June 18, 2009). It was put on the back-burner while Senate committees slugged their way through climate change legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) at the time wanted to marry the two bills. Critics saw it as a bad idea, saying it would stall or possibly kill both the energy and climate change bills.

The Senate energy bill includes an amendment, drafted by Dorgan, that would permit oil and gas activity in the eastern GOM 45 miles off Florida’s west coast and even closer off the Florida Panhandle (10 miles) in the gas-rich Destin Dome. The proposal does not include language that would allow coastal states that open their shores to production to share revenues with the federal government — an omission that has been criticized by senators from coastal states.

©Copyright 2010Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.