AAPG GEO-DC Blog

Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) introduced their much-awaited climate change bill today, entitled The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.

In an accompanying statement Kerry, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,  called the legislation “a security bill that puts Americans back in charge of our energy future and makes it clear that we will combat global climate change with American ingenuity. It is our country’s defense against the harms of pollution and the security risks of global climate change.”

Boxer, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, continued, “[W]e know clean energy is the ticket to strong, stable economic growth — it’s right here in front of us, in the ingenuity of our workers and the vision of our entrepreneurs. We must seize this opportunity, or others will move ahead…”

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee and an outspoken skeptic of anthropogenic climate change, responded sharply, “Despite an earnest attempt, including eight months of deliberation and negotiation to refashion the obvious, Senators Boxer and Kerry produced yet another massive energy tax that will destroy jobs, raise electricity and gasoline prices, and make America less competitive.”

The bill has two principal parts:

1. Specific policy initiatives for pollution reduction, transition, and adaptation, including:
   • Carbon capture and sequestration
   • Nuclear energy technologies
   • Water efficiency
   • Energy efficiency and renewable energy
   • Public transportation vehicle emission reductions
   • Clean energy and natural gas technologies
   • R&D programs
   • Workforce and job creation programs
   • Climate change adaptation and public health
2. Pollution Reduction and Investment (a.k.a. Cap-and-trade)
   • Targets reducing greenhouse gas emissions (referred to by authors as “global warming pollution”) to 97% of 2005 levels by 2012, 80% by 2020, 58% by 2030, and 17% by 2050.
   • Emissions covered include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafloride, hydrofluorocarbons emitted as a byproduct, perfluorocarbons, and nitrogen trifluoride.  The legislation give the EPA Administrator authority to include other anthropogenic greenhouse gases as deemed necessary to accomplish objectives of the bill.
   • Program focuses on approx. 7,500 facilities that account for nearly 75% of U.S. emissions.  According to the committee, 98% of U.S. businesses and 100% of farmers are not included in the program.  The full bill language has not yet been posted, to locate a list the targeted emitters, but materials supplied by the committee indicate it targets facilities emitting more than 25,000 tons of regulated emissions annually.

Senate committees will now begin considering the legislation, readying it for action on the Senate floor when the health care debate is finished.   Any bill passing the Senate would then have be conferenced with the Waxman-Markey bill passed by the House of Representatives.

Last 5 posts by David Curtiss

• Washington Watch: Climate politics - February 2nd, 2010
• DOE seeks nominees for Technical Advisory Committees - January 22nd, 2010
• AAPG President urges OSTP to move cautiously - January 20th, 2010
• Energy Secretary supports hydraulic fracturing - January 18th, 2010
• Another Senator doubts cap-and-trade in 2010 - January 13th, 2010