Crossposted from TIME’s Ecocentric blog:

Last March, President Barack Obama gave a speech on energy security at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington. In it, Obama offered what might be called a “grand compromise” on energy—in exchange for expanded offshore drilling, including in previously untouched areas like north Alaska and the Atlantic, he called for support of alternative power and the carbon cap bill that was still up for debate at the time in the Senate. It was a compromise that came in for criticism from both sides: environmentalists didn’t like the idea of offshore drilling in potentially sensitive areas, and conservatives weren’t happy about the alternative energy inducements and the talk about climate change.

In a less divided political atmosphere, Obama’s offer might have been the start of a realistic conversation on energy, acknowledging that we needed domestic sources of fossil fuels for now, while preparing the country for a cleaner, greener future. But the BP oil spill, less than a month later, effectively killed that compromise. Expanding offshore drilling became toxic for the White House, but without that carrot, cap-and-trade had no chance—if it ever had one at all—and the legislation died in the Senate without a vote.