The Senate will probably not take up cap-and-trade legislation in 2010, retiring Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said today. "In the aftermath of a very, very heavy lift on health care, it's unlikely that the Senate will turn to a very complicated and controversial subject of cap-and-trade," he told reporters in a conference call.

He instead predicted that the Senate will consider the energy bill approved last spring by the Energy and Natural Resources panel, on which he sits. He said he hopes the Senate will pass that bill by the end of June.

Dorgan's predictions contradict comments (subscription) made by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Thursday. "We have a lot on our plate," Reid said at a geothermal energy conference in New York City. "But we are not so busy that we can't find the time to address comprehensive energy and climate legislation." White House senior adviser David Axelrod sounded less confident in a recent interview (subscription) with National Journal, saying only that "we want to get an energy bill done" and that he expects "some form of an energy bill is going to pass this year."

Dorgan wouldn't say whether he might support a possible amendment by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to stop the EPA from regulating carbon emissions. But, he said, his "preference is that Congress address this issue and not the EPA." How the amendment is crafted -- most notably whether it suspends the agency's regulatory power or completely removes it -- is crucial, the senator added.

Dorgan, who announced earlier this month that he is retiring after almost three decades in Congress, has emerged as a key Democrat in the energy debate. He hails from a state with a heavy dependence on coal and has always been hesitant to support a cap-and-trade system. He is the No. 2 Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources panel, and he chairs the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. Democrats will face an uphill battle filling his North Dakota seat with someone willing to vote for cap-and-trade, or anything else that could adversely affect the coal industry.

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