Another Go At Climate Consensus in the United States Senate
The much anticipated energy and climate bill from Senators Graham (R-SC), Kerry (D-MA) and Lieberman (I-CT) appears close to a public unveiling. So far there is an 8-page outline of the legislation that was reportedly provided to captains of industry such as the US Chamber of Commerce in a recent closed-door meeting, but this document has not as of yet been made public. A bill should be released to the public within days. There are a wide variety of issues that will make or break this bill in terms of achieving enough votes to pass the Senate. Here are 3 key issues to watch while assessing political feasibility:
1. A Cap Here, A Tax There
All reports indicate that the bill will take a sector-by-sector approach to the energy and climate challenge. The sector approach is a departure from the House bill passed last year that set an economy-wide cap on emissions. Electric utilities and the manufacturing sectors will undoubtedly still fall under some revised version carbon emissions limits. The political challenge will be ensuring that the emission caps are indeed hard caps while providing ample incentives to ensure industry buy-in. Other sectors will face different strategies to reduce emissions. Recognizing complaints from oil & gas constituents with a cap and trade approach, a carbon tax on transportation fuels is the likely alternative for this greenhouse gas intensive sector. A key political challenge will be finding the right approach for setting the price of such a tax based on factors including price of carbon in other sectors and carbon content of fuel. It is safe to say that a sector approach may bring on more votes. However, the corresponding environmental integrity of the US approach to reducing carbon emissions will be under close watch.
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