New Climate Bill Possible

In an effort to come to a compromise on greenhouse gas emissions some of the more moderate democrats in the House of Representatives have begun to circulate a "watered down" climate change prevention bill. Representative Rick Boucher, our local representative and moderate democrat, is circulating a list of amendments designed to relax regulations outlined in the climate bill pending in committee. Representative Boucher also met with House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat, to discuss the legislation.

This piece of legislation is extremely important because it proposes broad new climate change laws. One of the proposals that the new legislation makes it that electric utilities would be given 40% of the allowances created through a cap-and-trade system. This would require companies to hold one allowance for each ton of carbon dioxide they emit. One of the relaxed regulations in the bill Boucher is circulating removes a provision that would have allowed citizens to sue the government based on harm, or potential harm, from climate change. This is probably a very good idea and will bring both sides into agreement on the bill and end some of the partisan bickering over it. Another attachment to the bill that I like is the giving of bonus allowances to companies that adopt clean coal technology "early".

Not all lawmakers are giving their support to the new bill however. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman said he won’t compromise on his proposed 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases over the next decade. Critics of Waxman's proposal say that it will hurt the already fragile economy. According to an analysis by the EPA, the Waxman-Markey climate change prevention bill would cost U.S. households between $98 and $140 if the revenue from auctioning off carbon permits in a cap-and-trade were returned to consumers. This would cause electricity rates to rise 22 percent by 2030. This partinship is what will be the biggest problem in passing the climate change prevention bill. Unwillingness to compromise like what is being seen from Waxman will deny us yet again a chance at curbing climate change.