Waxman-Markey Draft Clean Energy Bill
Paul Burman on March 31st, 2009
Today, Chairman Henry A. Waxman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Chairman Edward J. Markey of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee released draft clean energy legislation that promises to reduce emissions and create jobs. Titled the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), the legislation hopes to achieve a wide range of goals.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act will create millions of new clean energy jobs, save consumers hundreds of billions of dollars in energy costs, enhance America’s energy independence, and cut global warming pollution. To meet these goals, the legislation has four titles:
- A clean energy title that promotes renewable sources of energy, carbon capture and sequestration technologies, low-carbon fuels, clean electric vehicles, the smart grid and electricity transmission;
- An energy efficiency title that increases energy efficiency across all sectors of the economy, including buildings, appliances, transportation, and industry;
- A global warming title that places limits on emissions of heat-trapping pollutants; and
- A transitioning title that protects U.S. consumers and industry and promotes green jobs during the transition to a clean energy economy.
The Waxman-Markey clean energy bill has been much anticipated among those in the environmental community because it is expected to be one of the most comprehensive and well structured bills addressing climate change. Chairman Waxman has taken the lead on climate legislation before, including the Safe Climate Act, a bill that also called for 80% reductions by 2050.
There is a lot of love with the Waxman-Markey ACES bill and a lot of reason to believe that this type of legislation will fare better this year than in years before. The bill is framing itself as a way to save America jobs and help save Americans money — harking back to legislation to stimulate the economy in the New Deal era. By creating sustainable systems, the US can position itself for long term growth that is supported by clean energy and efficient infrastructure.
Action on global warming can no longer be pushed to the sidelines. It is time to take the action needed to reinvigorate our economy and re-power our energy sources.
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How do the billions of dollars set aside in the bill for development of so-called “clean coal” technology fit in with your organization’s claims to be fighting global warming? What are the exemptions for emissions and what impact does that have on the bill’s stated urpose of reducing greenhouse gases? How much revenue is expected to be raised from the auction/sale of pollution credits and what will these dollars be used for? Are there funds or benefits for the nuclear industry?
Thanks.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for commenting on the blog.
For the record, I am not a supporter of coal technology for a variety of reasons — global warming, human health concerns, and mountain-top removal mining. But the bill does specifically advocate for expansion of sequestration technologies, forcing many environmentalists to swallow a bitter pill in order to achieve some of the bills better virtues (like 25% of our energy coming from renewable technologies by 2025). There are limited exemptions in the bill for some heavy industry that seems particularly vulnerable to foreign displacement like the steel industry, but it seems like these exemptions seem to exist on the margins. The bill is also light on specifics when it comes to how much money may be raised by the auction for pollution credits and where that money might be used — if it is anything like Obama’s Budget plan (where he accounted for the projected revenue generated under a cap and trade), it should be raising billions of dollars with a fair chunk of that money going back to low income household that may need assistance paying utility bills.
For more information, see this fact sheet, http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090331/acesa_summary.pdf, I found it to be very helpful.
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