As the April 26th release date of the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman "American Power Act" nears, the Obama Administration has been increasingly vocal about its support and intention to work with all sides to get the bill passed this year.  It will be a heavy lift, and the Administration has been moving forward to secure support while the bill's sponsors finish their work and prepare to hand over the reins to Majority Leader Harry Reid (Reid Set to Take Command of Climate Bill, Reid reaffirms plans for floor debate on bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill), who will shepherd the bill through what promises to be a grueling Senate floor debate.  

Following a meeting last week between White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and top environmental leaders from NRDC, EDF, etc., Obama's top climate and energy aids will spend time tomorrow courting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a group famous for its poorly received opposition to last year's House climate bill, which sparked defections from the Chamber, including by Apple, and led companies like Nike and Duke Energy to disavow the Chamber's climate positions. 

The Energy Collective's Marc Gunther has declared Tom Donahue, the President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to be America's worst CEO, and has reported on the U.S. Chamber's climate blunders. 

Whether the Chamber of Commerce is gettable or not (NYT: US Chamber has not expressed support for any proposals to cap emissions), and despite the negative feelings I have about their behavior and statements throughout the climate debate, continued meetings between the Administration and the Chamber is good news for those of us in favor of passing comprehensive legislation.  It signals how serious Obama and his staff are about trying to pass the KGL bill. 

Although the recent consensus is that KGL has, at best, a 50% chance of passing (NRDC’s Frances Beinecke, Mike Brune of Sierra Club, David Yarnold of EDF and Mark Tercek of The Nature Conservancy said there’s no better than a 50% chance that Congress will pass comprehensive energy and environmental legislation in the next 12 months, momentum can change very quickly in Washington, and the leadership role the President plays, will, at the end of the day, be the most important factor in determining whether this gets done in 2010. 

Despite the inevitable shortcomings of the KGL legislation, it would be a step in the right direction, and there is absolutely no guarantee that politics on this issue will improve.  If legislation is going to move, 2010 may be as good as it gets.   

As E&E Daily's (subs req.) Darren Samuelson reports today, the Administration is proactively reaching out to the Chamber to discuss the legislation:

Senior White House aides have been gearing up behind the scenes for the Senate debate by meeting with all sides of the energy debate. Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett and Carol Browner, the president's top staffer on energy and climate issues, will host U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue tomorrow as part of the administration's ongoing courtship of the nation's largest industry voice.

"They asked for the meeting," Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Friday.

The U.S. Chamber opposed the House-passed climate bill (H.R. 2454) last year.

Rebecca Lutzy is the Content and Community Manager at The Energy Collective and a Ph.D. student at Princeton University focused on U.S. climate and energy policy.