Climate and Energy Bill introduced to Senate

Limit GHG & improve transport

Jay Blazek Crossley, May 12, 10.

The US Senate now has a draft bill to address climate and energy concerns, introduced today by Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT), according to the New York Times. The bill, called the American Power Act, includes national goals for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in accordance with President Obama’s stated goals, by 17 percent by 2020 and by more than 80 percent by 2050. The bill would allocate the external costs of GHGs to the utility and energy sectors through a system which would treat each sector differently, but seek to reach a commonly shared cost for each unit of carbon emissions, somewhere between the “cap-and-trade” and pure carbon tax concepts.

The bill would require states and metropolitan areas to set emissions targets for green house gases. States and metropolitan areas will in turn be able to access $6.25 billion of annual transportation funding for projects that reduce emissions of GHGs, 1/3 as US Department of Transportation (TIGER) grants, 1/3 toward a new program to fund state and local projects to reduce oil consumption and GHG emissions, and 1/3 for the Highway Trust Fund, for investments that will reduce emissions of GHGs. These funds will be derived directly from the costs to the energy and utility sectors, which as of yet do not pay the external costs associated with GHGs for their products.

According to Geoff Anderson, with Transportation for America, the bill represents a major endorsement of clean transportation as an important element of energy independence and climate protection:

“The ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has brought a new sense of urgency to the fight to reduce our dangerous reliance on oil. Right now the transportation sector is responsible for 70 percent of U.S. oil usage and roughly a third of greenhouse gas emissions. The American Power Act will create millions of jobs, strengthen our energy independence, increase our national security and guarantee our global economic leadership for decades to come by investing in clean transportation. The bill will create new, affordable transportation options in communities large and small across the country. This will make American families, safer, healthier and more prosperous and protect our national security with reduced dependence on dangerous sources of oil. We urge members of the Senate to act now on this important piece of legislation.”

Senator John Kerry’s page on the American Power Act
Draft of the Bill (987-page pdf)