Climate bill introduced

Major questions still remain

Steve Hawley, Mar 31, 09.

UPDATE (6/29/09, 9:26 am): The American Climate and Energy Security Act (ACES) passed the House 219-212 on Friday.

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UPDATE (4:28 pm, 4/22/09): Watch the House Energy subcommittee hearings live on C-SPAN.

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House leaders have introduced a bill to cap carbon emissions and curb global climate change, according to the New York Times. The draft, which is slightly more ambitious than a similar proposal from President Obama, was prepared by Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California and Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts.

The bill calls for the United States to reduce its carbon emissions 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, while President Obama’s plan would reduce emissions by 14 percent over the same time frame. According to the Times, “Both would reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases by roughly 80 percent by 2050.” The House bill would also require every region in the country to produce one-quarter of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, call for the modernization of the nation’s electrical grid, and require significant increases in energy efficiency.

However, the Times notes, “The bill leaves critical questions unanswered and has no Republican support. It is thus the beginning, not the end, of the debate in Congress on how to deal with two of President Obama’s top priorities, climate change and energy.”

The article continues:

The Waxman-Markey proposal does not address two of the most difficult issues in any global warming plan: the distribution of pollution allowances and a specific timetable for achieving emissions reductions. It also does not say how most of the tens of billions of dollars raised from auctioning pollution permits would be spent, or whether the revenue would be returned to consumers to compensate for higher energy bills. Those matters have been left to negotiations, which will begin when Congress returns from its Easter recess on April 20.

Under Mr. Obama’s plan, roughly two-thirds of the revenue from pollution permit auctions would be returned to the public in tax breaks. Some members of Congress from both parties want to see all the revenue from any carbon-reduction plan returned to the public in some form.