Yesterday, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep.
Jay Inslee (D-WA) released a document entitled “Principles for Global
Warming
Legislation,”
saying they “are designed to provide a framework for Congress as it
produces legislation to establish an economy-wide mandatory program to
cut global warming emissions” and that they “will meet the United
States’ obligations to curb greenhouse gas emissions and also will
provide a pathway to the international cooperation that is necessary to
solve the global warming problem.”
The principles are summarized:
The principles include the following elements: strong science-based
targets for near-term and long-term emissions reductions; auctioning
emissions allowances rather than giving them to polluting industries;
investing auction revenues in clean energy technologies; returning
auction proceeds to consumers, workers, and communities to offset any
economic impacts; and dedicating a portion of auction proceeds to help
states, communities, vulnerable developing countries, and ecosystems
address harm from the degree of global warming that is now
unavoidable.
The specific 14-point elements provide specific language that is more
complicated than the above summary. For example:
- The document recognizes that an increase in global temperatures
greater than 2°C above pre-industrial levels will bring about
“dangerous and irreversible changes to the Earth’s climate” and that
the IPCC calls for an industrialized-nation
minimum target of 25% below 1990 levels by 2020, but calls for a U.S.
target of 100% of 1990
levels.
- The language for scientific lookback provisions would be technically
satisfied by Lieberman-Warner’s current provisions (Sec. 7001-7004),
which only mandate action by 2020.
- The document does not actually call for full auction of allowances,
saying: “If any allocations are given to polluters, they must be
provided only to existing facilities for a brief transition period and
the quantity must be limited to avoid windfall profits”; no definition
of “brief” or “windfall profits” is given
- “Significant” auction revenue should be dedicated to “clean energy and
efficiency measures” – “clean energy” is defined as “technologies and
practices that are cleaner, cheaper, safer, and faster than
conventional technologies.” The document does not distinguish between
renewable and non-renewable technologies
- Only clean technology, a priority of Rep. Inslee, is recommended to
receive a “significant” portion of auction revenues; however, the
document says that auction revenues “sufficient to offset higher
energy costs” should go to low- and middle-income households.
The document is written with an eye to the Lieberman-Warner Climate
Security Act (S. 2191), the cap-and-trade legislation expected to reach
the Senate floor in June. In part, this is because the document is
expressly focused on cap-and-trade legislation; questions of broader
policy (agriculture, transportation, architecture, urban planning,
health) are only touched on. Many of the provisions are written in such
a way that the language in Lieberman-Warner satisfies them (such as the
2020 target, lookback provisions, call for complementary policies, and
most of the auction proceeds language).
Points of difference include the document’s call for 80% reductions from
current levels by 2050 (Lieberman-Warner’s 2050 target is estimated to
achieve a 62-66% reduction from current
levels)
and the emphasis on auction rather than allowance giveaways.
Lieberman-Warner allocates a significant percentage of allowances for
public purposes, giving them to states, tribal governments, federal
agencies, and load-serving entities who would then sell the allowances
to emitters to use their value; this document emphasizes instead using
auction revenues.
In general, the House document is in line with the Sanders-Lautenberg
principles,
though Sanders-Lautenberg is stronger on the scientific language.
However, it is considerably less aggressive than the progressive 1Sky
principles. For example, there is
no language even hinting at a coal plant
moratorium,
which has been called for by Reps. Waxman and Markey (H.R. 5575).
The full document of principles is after the jump.