House-passed energy bill is just bad enough, perhaps

The bad news is that today the House passed a nasty, polluter-subsidizing energy bill (WP, NPR). The good news is that it is a bill that will be tricky to pass through the Senate, because it contains some highly controversial provisions. One in particular would exempt the makers of a toxic gasoline additive, MTBE, from certain types of lawsuits that are usually filed when MTBE pollutes groundwater.

The MTBE thing is hilarious to me, and here's why:

a) The House can only pass an energy bill containing the MTBE liability waiver. This is because Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), the driving force behind the bill, has to include it to satisfy certain interests within his district, which is home to tons of oil refineries.

b) Yet the Senate is less likely to pass any bill that contains the MTBE provision. Some senators who would ordinarily be pro-energy-bill just hate it. Rightly so, because it would screw over communities whose drinking water has been contaminated by a potential carcinogen.

When special interests work at counter-purposes, sometimes everyone else wins.