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July 14 (Bloomberg) — Legislation that cuts carbon dioxide from power plants with a cap-and-trade program can’t pass the U.S. Senate this year, Senator Jay Rockefeller said today.

“Cap-and-trade cannot get 60 votes,” Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, said in a conference call with reporters, referring to the number of votes regularly needed to pass major legislation in the Senate. It’s “common knowledge around here,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said yesterday a plan to cut carbon dioxide from power plants may be part of energy legislation planned for debate this month.

Senators John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, are pressing Reid to add a power-plant cap-and-trade program to the energy bill. Kerry and Lieberman’s proposal scales back an earlier cap-and-trade plan, in which companies buy and sell a declining number of carbon dioxide allowances, which covered most of the U.S. economy.

Kerry said he’s still confident his power-plant program will pass the Senate as part of this month’s energy bill. “If we quit working every time someone was skeptical of getting 60 votes, we’d never get anything done,” Kerry said in an e-mail.

Related posts:

1. Carbon Emissions Cap-And-Trade Law Can’t Pass, Senator Rockefeller Says
2. Senator Rockefeller Wants Two-Year Delay for EPA Carbon Rules
3. Chu reiterates support for carbon price as competing bill emerges
4. Rockefeller bill would delay EPA CO2 rule
5. Cap and Trade: Will The Senate Go For Carbon Tariffs, Too?

Tags: America carbon, Cap-and-Trade, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Reduction