Source: Bradley Woods, NY, NY.

Democratic aides for the House Energy Committee are working on a major global warming bill.

• Aides for House Energy Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) would not say whether the draft measure will be circulated among lawmakers or released for public comment in the near future.
• Prospects for action on a carbon regulation measure remain slim this year, but the work may be seen as the beginning of a broad push for the next administration.
• Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL), their parties’ presumptive presidential nominees, both support global warming legislation in one form or another.
  • Either candidate would likely provide a friendlier political environment than the current administration for passing a carbon regulation bill.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that climate change legislation would be a top priority in the next Congress.

In June, a major cap-and-trade bill authored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), John Warner (R-VA), and Barbara Boxer (D-CA), stalled in the Senate. In addition to the chamber stalemate, the measure faced a veto threat from President Bush.

• The measure would have required a 19% reduction below current greenhouse gas levels by 2020, and a 71% reduction by 2050.
• Beginning in 2012 the EPA would have annually distributed free emissions allowances with the largest allocation of credits going to power plants and manufacturing facilities.
  • The availability of free allowances would have gradually decreased over time.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 2:39 pm and is filed under Alt Energy, Regulatory Developments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.