Last week the Senate passed a clean-energy bill with a presidential veto-proof majority. It was a solid renewable energy bill that ensured the stable growth of such industries as wind and solar power.

They attached it to essential must-pass bills on disaster relief and an alternative minimum tax extension to bypass filibuster. It included some dirty-energy breaks along with clean-energy provisions. Not hitting up oil companies to fund it also helped.

But Friday, against dire warnings from Senate leaders not to change even a word of the bill's fragile construction, the House disentangled the must-pass AMT and disaster-relief provisions from the renewable-energy extensions, removed the dirty-energy provisions and passed the bills separately.

Even though the House approved a standalone package of renewable-energy tax-incentive extensions by a vote of 257-166, it was obvious that this strategy that would die back in the Senate where the solar credits alone have been tried five times now.

The House plan was fully offset at the insistence of House Democrats, whereas the Senate package was only partially paid for as part of a delicate bipartisan compromise that allowed the bill to advance after months of stalemate.

By rearranging the renewables and the essential must-pass bills into completely separate votes, the House scuttled the chance to pass the renewable provisions upon return to the Senate for the final version.

Over a weekend session called primarily to cope with Wall Street woes, both Houses tried to find a new combination that might work. House Democrats last night added the lure of funding for rural counties, but Senate tax leaders quickly called the House proposal inadequate.

The two versions of the energy bill, HR 6049 and HR7060, will have their final chance this week, but the 110th Congress, which began on such high hopes for clean energy, could end without resolving the standoff that has delayed billions of dollars in incentives for alternative power, energy-efficient buildings and other green technologies.

Related stories:
House Fully Funds Renewable Energy Act, Possibly Sinking It
On 9th Attempt, Senate Passes Clean Energy Provisions

AWEA Graph shows the effect of expiring PTC.