Climate Bill Addresses Auctions, Distribution of Trillions of Dollars

Major amendments to the federal climate change bill by Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John Warner (R-VA) were released May 20 by the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chair. The proposed changes said to be bipartisan, announced by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), include doling out trillions of dollars expected to be generated from auctioning carbon to advance climate protections and safeguard industries and consumers from soaring costs. “It provides a very large tax cut to assist consumers with their energy bills and it follows the very strong advice of scientists, who have told us what needs to be done to avert catastrophic effects of unchecked global warming,” Boxer stated. Greenhouse gas emissions would be cut 2 percent a year through 2050 from 2005 emission levels, which will serve as the baseline. By 2025, a 19 percent carbon cut is predicted, with it expected to rise to a 71 percent reduction in 2050. Amendments to Lieberman-Warner climate change legislation released this week assume that auctioning off carbon credits to industries and sectors covered by a federal cap-and-trade program will generate tens of billions of dollars annually. Thus, it is said to be “deficit neutral.” It allows industries to use carbon offsets to meet up to 30 percent of their reduction obligation, with 15 percent generated by domestically produced offsets and the other half by international carbon curb measures. If the price of carbon rises too high, a safety valve is supposed to kick in, releasing more carbon allowances into the market to temper the price. Following is a partial list of program spending through 2050 under the proposal: -$800 billion in tax relief to financially strapped consumers; -$911 billion to local utilities to offset high energy bills; -$300 billion for agriculture and forestry projects expected to curb emissions but not qualify as carbon offsets; -$254 billion to help states heavily dependent on coal transition to less-carbon intense power; -$190 billion for training workers in energy efficiency and renewable energy worker training programs; -$150 billion to renewable energy owners; -$92 billion for utilities and manufactures of nuclear, solar and other “low carbon emitting” technology; -$50 billion to energy efficient manufacturers; -$51 billion of new highly efficient buildings and retrofit of existing ones; -$34 billion to oil refineries; -$30 billion to compensate companies that take actions to reduce the global warming impacts prior to the legislation’s implementation. The U.S. Environmental Protection agency is required to develop the carbon credits and offsets rules. Under the proposal, the president could suspend the measure to protect the country’s national, economic or energy security. The amendments to the Lieberman-Warner climate change legislation are expected to be debated in early June.

Over 11K Stories!

| Independently Powered Energy News

Climate Bill Addresses Auctions, Distribution of Trillions of Dollars

vdharadmin

Related Posts

State Carbon Emissions Reduction Plan Update Faces Big Pushback

Bills Pass that Move the Needle on Non Fossil Energy Pass

California Falls Behind on Climate Protection

U.S. Energy Committee Vets Climate Methodology