Climate Bills and a Green Economy

Factbox: Details of Postponed Climate Bill in Senate

April 25, 2010

Reuters - An unveiling of the compromise climate change bill in the Senate has been postponed and the legislation faces even tougher prospects after a Republican senator pulled out of negotiations.

The bill will not be unveiled on Monday, as had been expected, after Republican Lindsey Graham dropped out of talks with John Kerry, a Democrat, and Joe Lieberman, an independent [for more on Graham, see Politicians March to the Tune of the Controlling Elite].

The bill could be unveiled at a later date if Graham rejoins the group, though time is growing short to pass it before November elections.

Reuters has obtained many of the details likely to be included in a bill. Here is what is known so far, according to sources, although details could change:

-- A 17 percent reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, from 2005 levels, would be the goal. Many scientists think that is insufficient to keep global temperatures from rising a dangerous 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial times. The bill hopes to achieve around 80 percent reductions by 2050.

-- The Environmental Protection Agency would be barred from regulating carbon dioxide emissions. State and regional "cap and trade" programs to reduce carbon pollution would be terminated. States could still impose energy-efficiency standards and renewable energy standards.

-- Electric power utilities would be put under a cap and trade program, starting in 2013, to force them to reduce carbon emissions. It would force a reduction in carbon pollution over the years and required pollution permits could be traded on a regulated market.

Still unclear is how the pollution permits would be allocated to utilities and whether all of them would initially be given away or whether some would be sold.

The legislation is expected to avoid the term "cap and trade" in favor of something more descriptive, possibly "pollution reduction targets."

-- Manufacturers would be incorporated into the same program starting in 2016.

-- New incentives would be included for heavy trucks to switch from diesel fuel to cleaner-burning natural gas.

-- Domestic and international "offsets" would be allowed to help companies achieve pollution-reduction goals. Instead of reducing some of their smokestack emissions, they could invest in projects that aim to cut emissions, such as saving forests. More details on the number and type of offsets were unknown.

-- Additional government loan guarantees and other incentives expected to help spur construction of 12 new nuclear plants.

-- Oil refiners may be required to obtain pollution permits based on the amount of carbon in their motor fuels, but full details of the transportation portion of the bill were not yet available.

-- More government funds to help the coal industry develop clean technology, such as "carbon capture and sequestration." Last month, $10 billion was included in one draft, but changes were more recently made and details were not available.

-- An expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling in parts of Alaska and the East, excluding the Northeast. There's been a fight over whether states would share some of the federal revenues generated from the new drilling, with some senators vehemently opposed, either because they are against expanded drilling or they come from noncoastal states.

-- A price collar to prevent large market fluctuations in the price of carbon pollution permits. The collar would aim to keep prices initially in the range of $10-$25 per ton.

-- Consumer rebates to help cover the costs of higher energy prices.

-- Border protections for energy-intensive industries such as steel, paper, glass and chemical manufacturers. The goal is to have a mechanism in hand that would be used by the United States if foreign countries with weaker climate controls tried to flood the United States with their cheaper products.

-- Senators also were fighting over an oil industry proposal to allow states, instead of Washington, to regulate the production of natural gas from shale.

-- Pollution-reduction would be aimed at larger companies, such as those with emissions above 25,000 tons a year.

Senators Postpone Climate Bill Unveiling

April; 25, 2010

Reuters - One of President Barack Obama's top priorities -- tackling global warming -- suffered a severe setback on Saturday when a fight over immigration derailed plans to unveil a compromise climate change bill.

A bipartisan group of senators led by Democrat John Kerry had been aiming to outline details of their climate change bill on Monday.

That plan was canceled after Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the working group, threatened to pull out if Democrats pushed for a debate on an overhaul of immigration before doing the huge environmental and energy legislation [for more on Graham, see Politicians March to the Tune of the Controlling Elite].

Without Graham on board, efforts to pass climate control legislation could be doomed, as he was expected to work to win more Republican support for the bill.

Kerry later announced that "regrettably, external issues have arisen that force us to postpone" advancing the climate control bill, which also would have expanded U.S. nuclear power generation and offshore oil drilling.

The Massachusetts Democrat indicated the three senators had agreed on the details of a bill before Graham sent his letter.

Kerry added that he and independent Senator Joseph Lieberman would continue working to advance the legislation "and are hopeful that Lindsey will rejoin us once the politics of immigration are resolved."

The Senate climate legislation, under close international scrutiny, would have reduced U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide pollution, which is blamed for causing global warming and results from burning fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, to generate electricity, power factories and operate cars and trucks.

That legislation also would was expected to introduce a new trading system for pollution permits, similar to programs in the European Union and among 10 northeastern U.S. states, to cut pollution.

A Democratic Party aide suggested that key figures were scrambling late on Saturday to find a way to put back on track what may be a last-ditch effort this year for climate-change legislation.

"There's huge movement to find an accommodation between (Senate Majority Leader Harry) Reid, Graham, and the White House," the aide told Reuters.

"The environmental community is sounding the alarm that they need the majority leader to put the pieces back together or they'll hold him accountable," the aide added.

The flare-up over immigration came a day after Arizona Governor Janice Brewer, a Republican running for reelection, signed into law a tough immigration measure that Obama called "misguided."

Reid, like many Democrats in Congress, is in a tough race for reelection in November and is facing pressure in his state to pass immigration reform, while others want a climate control bill. There is little time left in the legislative calendar.

Democrats, who have a majority in Congress, have signaled they want to pass the climate bill as well as legislation to provide a path for some 11 million people in the United States illegally -- many of them Hispanics -- to gain citizenship.

Hispanics, a key voting bloc who tend to favor Democrats, and other groups have pushed for the legislation, which would also increase border security and reform rules for temporary workers in the United States, which is important to the business community.

The effort to pass the two major bills this year has angered Republicans, many of whom oppose both measures. Graham is seen as a key player on both the climate and immigration issues.

The fate of both bills depends on the ability of Reid and Obama to forge an agreement with Republicans, who have resisted cooperating for the past two years on most major Democratic initiatives ...

Reid said Graham was under "tremendous pressure" from his party "not to work with us on either measure."

"I appreciate the work of Senator Graham on both of these issues," Reid said, adding that Americans "expect us to do both and they will not accept the notion that trying to act on one is an excuse for not acting on the other."

Graham has been chafing all week over reports that Democratic leaders were signaling that immigration changes could be the next big legislative push in the Senate after it finishes a bill to overhaul financial regulations.

"Moving forward on immigration -- in this hurried, panicked manner -- is nothing more than a cynical political ploy," Graham said in a letter on Saturday to Kerry and Lieberman.

Graham said debate on the controversial immigration changes was not ripe and should occur next year, after the November congressional elections.

The climate bill, however, already faced an uphill battle in the Senate before it became enmeshed in the battle over immigration.

If Congress fails to approve climate legislation this year, it could try again in 2011. If all efforts collapse in Congress, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said it would begin regulating greenhouse gases for the first time, an outcome business and environmental groups wish to avoid. They prefer legislation tailored to their needs.

Scenarios: Outlook for climate bill in Congress
Developing nations want 2011 climate pact deadline