Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) yesterday released a statement of principles for judging climate change legislation. Both are members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s Subcommittee on Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection, representing the majority with Sen. Lieberman and Sen. Baucus; Lieberman and Warner plan to submit cap-and-trade legislation to the subcommittee today.
Earlier in the month, a group of liberal Democratic senators outlined their goals for climate change legislation, praising the Lieberman-Warner effort.
Here are the Sanders-Lautenberg principles in short:
- Targets must be set to cap atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases at a max of 450 PPM CO2 equivalent, latest science continually taken into acount
- Quick transition to polluter-pays auction, with monies providing economic relief and significant investment in renewables and energy efficiency
- No federal pre-emption of state efforts
- Additional policies such as building and fuel standards and CCS requirements that ensure rapid deployment of clean energy technology
- Offsets should be limited, real, verifiable, additional, permanent and enforceable