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Grassley: spill and cap and trade separate issues

Senators Joe Lieberman and John Kerry are introducing climate change legislation Wednesday that they say has a broad base of support.

After supporting the bill early on, Republican Senator Lindsay Graham backed away. Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley is also skeptical of the measure’s chances.

“I’d be surprised if it’d even come up for a vote,” Grassley told reporters Tuesday. “If it does come up for a vote I think it’s only because the Democrats have to show that they do have the votes or don’t have the votes to satisfy the advocates for cap and trade.”

AUDIO: Senator Grassley (2 min. MP3)

Lieberman insists the bill has a shot at passing, saying that the Gulf spill builds the case for transitioning to an energy system that doesn’t depend on oil.

On the other hand, Grassley sees cap and trade and the Gulf spill as separate issues.

“People are going to use that as an argument,” said Grassley, “but even with the best of advancement of alternative energy and conservation for a long, long period of time, we’re still going to be dependent on fossil fuels.”

For his part, Lieberman says offshore drilling is needed as a transitional measure. He says every barrel of oil pumped domestically offshore or onshore is one barrel less the U.S. is buying from its enemies.

The NAFB News Service contributed to this article.

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