Obama Administration Moves to Curb Carbon Emissions
The Obama administration said Wednesday it was moving ahead to curb carbon emissions by issuing a proposed rule that would require the nation's biggest greenhouse gas emitters to install advanced pollution control technology to operate any facility they plan to construct or significantly modify.
The action came as Senate Democrats introduced a climate bill setting nationwide limits on greenhouse gases. The two efforts could influence the outcome of United Nations-sponsored talks in Copenhagen this December, where more than 180 nations will attempt to forge a new international climate pact.
"This is our time," declared Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who held a rally on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol before a huge American flag and a group of veterans, clean energy entrepreneurs and state and local lawmakers. "Global warming is our challenge."
Both the Senate bill, authored by Boxer and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.), and the new EPA proposal target roughly 7,500 coal-fired plants, oil refineries and other facilities across the country that emit at least 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year and compose more than 70 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. While the administration has said it prefers for Congress to take the lead on climate change, it remains unclear if it can accomplish its goals legislatively.
Jason S. Grumet, president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, said the Boxer-Kerry bill represents progress because it seeks to contain the cost of carbon allowances businesses will have to buy and sell in order to comply with any federal cap on greenhouse gas emissions.
"It addresses one of the most significant concerns the business community and conservative members of Congress have had for the past ten years, which is having some upper limit on the potential program's cost," Grumet said. "Whether policy progress will be reflected in political momentum in this very difficult political environment remains an open question."
The Senate bill would cut the nation's greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent compared to 2005 levels by 2020, and create what Boxer described as "a soft collar" that aims to curb price volatility in the carbon allowance trading market. If allowance prices reach $28 it would trigger the release of reserve allowances to keep prices in check. For the first five years the price trigger would rise 5 percent above the rate of inflation; after 2018 it would rise 7 percent.
The measure also calls for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to set regulations overseeing the carbon trading market, though it doesn't specify what those rules would look like. It establishes an emission allowance rebate program targeted at some trade-sensitive and carbon-intensive American industries, but it excludes the oil industry. And the bill does not spell out how those rebates would be distributed, just as it leaves open the question of how the federal government would allocate carbon allowance to ease the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Since several panels have jurisdiction over the bill, Kerry said the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Finance Committee could have competing proposals on carbon allowances, but they could reconcile them. "I'm convinced we're going to pull this together," he said.
A lobbyist for the oil refining industry, who asked not to be identified because he represents clients who would be affected by the legislation, questioned why the measure left such key questions unresolved: "I know they've been talking to people. There's no evidence those talks have led to any progress for three months."
Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, said the fact that the measure does not spell out questions such as which industries might receive free allowances "signals that a lot of important conversations will have to occur to get the support we need." But he added, "It's obviously a hugely important step forward signaling that it's time to move forward in the Senate."
Several key Democrats such as Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) said they would have to review the Boxer-Kerry bill before taking a position on it. Lincoln told reporters she intended to help shape the parts of the bill affecting agriculture, and doubted the chamber could complete work on it by the end of the year. "It's going to be tough, real tough," she said.
Republicans delivered an even harsher assessment. Sen. John Thune (S.D.) said the measure is "much worse" than the House-passed climate bill. "It's more expensive, it's more restrictive, it's more aggressive," he said.
And Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who authored the first climate bill to make it to the Senate floor for a vote, said the new bill did not do enough to promote nuclear power and was open to special interest manipulation. "The bill has no specific allocations, which made the House bill such a debacle," he said.
Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the international community is eyeing the legislative process to see if the administration "will be able to bring along the Congress to implement and ratify what we agree to in Copenhagen" on climate change.
For the moment, foreign nations are still waiting. Malachy Hargadon, environment counselor at the European Commission delegation to the U.S., said while he and others were encouraged by the Senate bill, "We realize the compromises and negotiations that will take place in the coming weeks."
Source: Washington Post
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