Posted by Brad Johnson on 08/06/2007 at 01:58AM
In summary, US-CAP members Environmental Defense, Pew Center on Climate
Change, and Nature Conservancy offer unequivocal praise of
Lieberman-Warner.
NRDC (US-CAP) and Union of Concerned
Scientists say it’s a starting point that needs fixing.
Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club say it has major problems; the
Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters say that focus should stay
on the Sanders-Boxer bill.
A number of organizations have not yet weighed in. Full quotations and
links to the statements are below the fold.
Posted by Brad Johnson on 08/04/2007 at 08:50PM
HR 3221, the New Direction for Energy
Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act, passed at
5:40 PM by a vote of
241-172. 26 Republicans
voted in favor of the bill and 9 Democrats against.
At 4:39 PM the Udall renewable energy standard (RES) amendment passed
220-190. 32 Republicans
voted for the provision and 38 Democrats against.
At 8:16 PM, HR 2776, the Renewable Energy and
Energy Conservation Tax Act, was passed by a vote of
221-189. 9 Republicans
voted in favor and 11 Democrats against. The bill was subsequently
attached to HR 3221 and the combined bill will
go into conference with the Senate.
Posted by Brad Johnson on 08/02/2007 at 04:47PM
The proposed amendments to HR 3221 have been
submitted and are available for
review,
as are those for HR
2776.
Of significance for HR 3221:
- Both major CAFE standards bills,
Markey-Platts, and Hill-Terry, were withdrawn. Barton’s
CAFE bill is still on the slate as
Amendment
#62
- Udall-Platts (HR 969), the Renewable Energy Standard, is on the slate
as Amendment
#96
and probably has enough votes for passage
- Herseth Sandlin submitted Amendment
#81
to change the Renewable Fuels Standard program to require the
production of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022
- Boustany’s Amendment
#9
makes the Secretary of Energy a statutory member of the National
Security Council
- Shay’s Amendment
#105
doubles the funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program
HR 2776:
- McCrery submitted the Republican substitute for the tax package as
Amendment
#7
Posted by Brad Johnson on 08/02/2007 at 12:39PM
Sens. Lieberman and Warner have
unveiled
the skeleton of their cap-and-trade legislation, America’s Climate
Security Act.
Cap
“The bill will specify an annual aggregate tonnage cap, expressed in
terms of Co2 equivalence, for each year from 2012 through 2050. The cap
that the bill will specify for 2012 will be the 2005 emissions level.”
And: 10% below 2005 by 2020, 30% by 2030, 50% by 2030, 70% by 2050.
Allowances
- Each year 20% of that year’s National Emission Allowance Account for
free to covered entities within the industry sector.
- In 2012 20% of the NEAA will be allocated to
the electric power sector. A portion of that 20% will be free to new
entrants to the electric power sector. The allocation will be at 20%
from 2012 – 2017, then transition to 0% by 2035.
- 10% will be allocated to load-serving entities to defray energy-cost
impacts on low- and middle-income consumers and to promote demand-side
energy efficency, some of it for free to rural electric cooperative
facilities.
- 8% will be allocated to covered entities who have taken pre-enactment
action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That 8% will transition to
0% by 2020.
- Each year 4% will be allocated to state governments, half based on
population, half on historical state emissions.
- Each year 4% will be allocated to US coal mines.
- Each year 7.5% will be allocated to farmers, foresters, and other
landowners to store carbon in soils, crops, and forests.
- Each year 2.5% will be allocated to the transportation sector.
Allowances for Auction
- 24% in 2012 will go to auction under the aegis of the Climate Change
Credit Corporation; rising to 52% by 2035.
Auction Proceeds
- 20% for a public-private partnership for power-sector technologies
including CCS
- 20% for public-private partnership for CCS
- 20% for transportation sector technologies and reducing miles traveled
- 10% for environmental mitigation
- 10% for SO2, NOx, mercury emission reduction
from coal plants
- 10% to state and local for low-income community mitigation
- 10% for international mitigation
CCS
CCS regulations and a legal framework for the
Federal assumption of liability for geological storage will be proposed
by a study group within two years of enactment.
Carbon Market Efficiency Board, Banking
- Up to 15% of the allowances a covered entity must submit may be
comprised of borrowed allowances, with an interest rate set by the
Board.
- Up to 15% of the allowances that a covered entity must submit may be
comprised of offset credits.
- Up to 15% of the allowances that a covered entity must submit may be
comprised of allowances purchased on a certified foreign greenhouse
gas emissions trading market.
- the Board may increase the number of emissions credits if the average
daily closing price of an emissions credit exceeds the upper end of
the range predicted by the CBO prior to the
start of the program.
- The Board may adjust the terms and interest rates of the emissions
loans “as needed to avoid significant harm to the economy” and “in the
event of more extreme economic circumstances” to raise the cap
temporarily provided that subsequent year’s caps are tightened so that
cumulative reductions are unchanged.
Offsets
“The bill will set forth detailed, rigorous requirements for offsets,
with the purpose of ensuring that they will represent real, additional,
verifiable, and permanent emissions reductions.”
Foreign Tariffs
The President will be authorized to require that importers of
GHG-intensive products submit emissions
allowances of a value equivalent to that of the allowances that the US
system effectively requires of domestic manufacturers, if it is
determined that nation has not taken commensurate action to reduce
GHG emissions.
Posted by Brad Johnson on 08/02/2007 at 10:43AM
Last weekend, Sen. Barbara Boxer led a delegation from the Environment
and Public Works Committee to Greenland:
- Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)
- Ben Cardin (D-Md.)
- Bill Nelson (D-Fl.)
- Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
- Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
- Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.)
- Bob Corker (R-Tenn.)
- Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
Inhofe sent staffer Mark Morano, a former writer for the rightwing
Cybercast News Service. Richard Alley of Penn State University, the lead
author on the United States Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
was the scientific advisor on the trip. They met with Arkalo Abelsen,
Greeland’s environmental minister.
Posted by Brad Johnson on 08/02/2007 at 10:10AM
The New York Times has an editorial on the energy bill to be debated
this week (HR 3221): An Incomplete Energy
Bill.
The House will begin debating Friday on a generally useful energy bill
that would increase energy efficiency, encourage more responsible oil
and gas development on public lands and stimulate investment in
cleaner fuels. Yet the bill is incomplete. If it truly hopes to
address the problems of global warming and energy independence, three
vital issues need to be addressed.
The three missing components:
- CAFE Standard (Markey-Platts,
HR 1506)
- Renewable Energy Standard (Udall, HR 969)
- Low-Carbon Fuel Standard
This is also the Union of Concerned
Scientists
platform.
Rep. Dingell, meanwhile, wrote an op-end on the carbon tax: The Power
in the Carbon
Tax.
It’s a critical insight into the thinking of perhaps the most
influential person in Congress in shaping global warming policy.
I apparently created a mini-storm last month when I observed publicly
for at least the sixth time since February that some form of carbon
emissions fee or tax (including a gasoline tax) would be the most
effective way to curb carbon emissions and make alternatives
economically viable. I said, as I have on many occasions, that we
would have to go to some kind of cap-and-trade system for carbon
emissions.
Posted by Brad Johnson on 08/01/2007 at 10:18AM
The press
conference
has been announced for 10:30 AM tomorrow.
Posted by Brad Johnson on 07/31/2007 at 06:46PM
In this morning’s
markup,
the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved S. 1785,
which has the following straightforward text:
Section 209 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7543) is amended by adding
at the end the following: (f) Waivers of Preemption-
- PENDING REQUESTS- Not later than 30 days
after the date of enactment of this subsection, but in no case
later than September 30, 2007, the Administrator shall issue to
the Governor of each applicable State a decision on each request
for a waiver of preemption under subsection (b) that—
- has been submitted by the State; and
- is pending as of the date of enactment of this subsection.
- SUBSEQUENT REQUESTS- With respect to a
request for a waiver of preemption under subsection (b) (including
such a request submitted by a State that has adopted and enforced
certain standards as described in section 177) that is submitted
by a State after the date of enactment of this subsection, not
later than 180 days after the date on which the Administrator
receives the request, the Administrator shall issue to the
Governor of the State a decision on whether to grant the waiver.
It passed by a party-line 10-9 vote.
Posted by Brad Johnson on 07/31/2007 at 04:28PM
On July 30, Speaker Pelosi set the agenda for her energy independence
initiative, which she had originally hoped to complete by July 4th. The
legislative package will be introduced to the floor in two parts:
- the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007
(HR
2776)
from the Ways and Means Committee, reported out at the end of June
- and the New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and
Consumer Protection Act (HR
3221),
which needs to be signed off by the relevant committees
HR 2776 provides tax incentives for renewable electricity
production, biofuels, efficient appliances, plug-in hybrids, and
renewable energy bonds. It pays for these incentives buy reducing oil
and gas royalties and closing the “Hummer” tax loophole.
HR 3221 is a wide-ranging
omnibus, under the jurisdiction
of the following committees:
- Education and Labor (Title I: green jobs)
- Foreign Affairs (Title II: foreign assistance and trade)
- Small Business (Title III: small business
sustainability initiative)
- Science and Technology (Title IV: research
funding—HR 364, HR
906, HR 1933, HR 2773, HR
2774,
HR 2304, HR 2313)
- Agriculture (Title V: biofuels)
- Oversight and Government Reform (Title VI: carbon-neutral government)
- Natural Resources (Title VII: Energy Policy
Act of 2005 reforms, changes in oil and gas royalties, wind energy,
CCS, wildlife, oceans)
- Transportation and Infrastructure (Title
VIII: public transportation, highways,
shipping, public buildings)
- Energy and Commerce (Title IX: appliance, lighting, and building
efficiency, smart grid, renewable fuel infrastructure, plug-in
hybrids)
- Armed Services (it’s unclear which components are under its
jurisdiction)
All amendments to HR 3221 must be
introduced
by Wednesday afternoon. The Rules Committee will
convene
Thursday at 3 PM to establish the debate rules and timetable.
After the amendment process and ratification, the package will then go
into conference to be reconciled with the Senate energy bill,
SA
1502,
passed mid-June.