Senate wants cap and trade scheme to tackle rising emissions rather than green new dealA scaled-back climate change bill being considered by Senate Democrats would achieve far less than President Barack Obama promised at the UN global warming summit in Copenhagen last year – but even this may be too much for Congress.With little time left in a short, crowded legislative schedule this year, Senate Democratic leaders are weighing a final attempt to begin reducing carbon dioxide emissions.Instead of the kind of economy-wide scheme the House of Representatives approved last year, senators are trying to rally support for a narrower plan that would set pollution caps only on the electric power sector – covering about one-third of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. It would do so by allowing an ever-dwindling number of carbon pollution permits to be traded.By signing onto the Copenhagen accord last December, the United States accepted the goal of cutting 2005 domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 17% by 2020 compared to 2005.This required congressional action – extremely difficult with an ailing economy and ahead of mid-term elections, when opponents argue the measure would raise
energy prices for consumers.Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, said a cap on utility emissions would result in a 12% to 14% cut by 2020. "It's not 17, but I think it's not terrible,"she said.However, that preliminary estimate assumes that the utility cap and trade program would be coupled with some other pollution-reduction steps, such as requiring more fuel-efficient heavy
trucks and improving building efficiency standards – initiatives that could be folded into a large energy and environment bill.According to Pew estimates, the utility sector emission reductions alone in the draft law translate roughly into an economy-wide 7% cut in fossil fuel pollution by 2020.Many countries already were criticizsing the US promise of a 17% reduction, noti ...
Try our segmented RSS Feeds
