On a 4-3 vote, the new federal climate change bill, S 2191, was amended and moved through a key U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee November 1. In the subcommittee, amendments offered to make it more of a renewable energy vehicle and less of a coal- and nuclear technology-based measure were defeated. However, a California-style environmental approach, and one less Mid-West coal-centric, has potential in the full committee headed by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). The bill puts a mandatory greenhouse gas cap on the power and transportation industries. By 2050, it seeks to reduce 63 percent of overall emissions based on 2005 values, according to co-sponsor Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT). He called it the “strongest global warming law in the world.” Lieberman is the chair of the Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection subcommittee. He coauthored the bill with Senator John Warner (R-VA). Boxer said the bill, as it goes through the legislative process, “is getting better and better.” Several proposed amendments by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) were defeated. They included one specifying that 45 percent of the funds raised from a cap-and-trade auction would promote solar and wind energy and another increasing the miles-per-gallon threshold that the auto industry needs to meet to qualify for federal subsidies. “That’s $3 trillion in cap-and-trade. It’s important to know where the money is going,” said Sanders. Lieberman opposed both amendments, noting that he and Sanders revenue estimates from auctioning greenhouse gas credits were projected differently. He said that 50 percent of monies raised through a trading auction would go to zero or low-carbon technologies, including nuclear power and energy efficiency. He added that projections estimate that amount would be $522 billion. “It could be world changing,” the Connecticut lawmaker said. An amendment to establish a Wyoming-based special university institute on “clean coal” was defeated. Another effort to add a subsidy for high-altitude coal gasification that would apply to Wyoming was withdrawn. As of press time, there was no date when the full committee would take up the hearing. However, Boxer appeared anxious to address it. “We’re finally on our way to preventing the ravages of global warming,” she stated just after the subcommittee voted.
