Democrats offer ambitious climate plan
Proposal focuses on energy, emissions, jobs
WASHINGTON – House Democratic leaders unveiled a sweeping plan Tuesday to fight climate change and boost renewable energy, including mandates for renewable electricity nationwide and a market-based system for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
It’s a starting point in what promises to be a long and winding congressional debate over energy and climate policy. And it leaves some critical questions unanswered – most notably, how to allocate emissions permits and what to do with any revenue from selling those permits.
The plan, posted on the House Energy and Commerce Committee Web site, is a “discussion draft” written by Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., the committee chairman, and Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming.
Among the bill’s provisions:
•A nationwide mandate for renewable energy – such as wind, solar and biomass – in electric power generation, starting at 6 percent in 2012 and rising to 25 percent by 2025.
•A cap-and-trade program to restrict greenhouse-gas emissions by requiring utilities and other emitters to hold allowances for the carbon dioxide they send into the atmosphere. The level of allowances would shrink annually to reduce carbon emissions to 3 percent below 2005 levels by 2012, to 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and to 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.
•A mechanism for emitters to buy offsets, a sort of emissions credit that comes from spending money to reduce emissions outside the scope of the cap-and-trade system.
•A national standard limiting carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles and a new low-carbon fuel standard to further support biofuels and low-emission alternatives to gasoline.
•Support for carbon-capture and storage technology, which, if perfected, would remove carbon emissions from coal-fired plants and store them underground.
•New mandates for energy efficiency in appliances, lighting, vehicles and buildings.
•A variety of measures supporting “green jobs,” including worker training.
•Rebates for manufacturers hit hard by additional energy costs imposed by the bill.
Next up is a lengthy congressional debate: Waxman has promised to pass a bill from the full committee by Memorial Day.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is writing her own climate bill, mindful of divisions in both parties over many key details.