Amendments To US CO2 Bill Widen Coverage, Allow Flexibility
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Dow Jones & Company, Inc. - Oct 31
U.S. senators announced changes Wednesday to a closely watched climate-change bill that would require the natural gas industry, among others, to cut greenhouse-gas emissions and give the government greater flexibility to adjust the targets and system.
The bill, by Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., would require U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to be cut to 1990 levels by 2020.
The proposed changes would expand the volume of greenhouse gases that would need to be cut by including the natural gas industry. They also give Congress the flexibility to stiffen requirements that might be too lax, or loosen them if they turned out to be onerous or harmful.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D- Calif., who is leading the effort to push the bill through Congress, said she approves of the two major amendments.
The changes are seen as a political compromise that could garner more support for the bill, named America's Climate Security Act, or S. 2191, from both parties.
The bill would cap greenhouse-gas emissions from power generation, transportation and manufacturing sources between 2007 and 2050. These industries would be required to reach 2005 emission levels in 2012, then reduce the levels annually at a "constant, gradual rate" to reach 1990 emission levels by 2020, or 15% below the 2005 emissions levels.
Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., who helped draft the major amendments, said including the natural gas industry would "allow for further emissions reductions potentially up to 20% by 2020."
An Environment subcommittee is scheduled to vote on the bill Thursday, and if approved, send it to the full Environment Committee next week for a vote.
Four of seven members of the subcommittee - Warner, Leiberman, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Lautenberg - have now expressed support for the bill.
Boxer told reporters on the sidelines of a committee hearing that the amendment giving Congress greater flexibility was necessary given the legislation's potential impact. "It's very important when you are writing landmark legislation that you don't lock yourself down, because situations can change, circumstances can change," .
"We might find the way we wrote the bill was too weak," she said. "We might find the way we wrote it was too strong. We wanted to make sure the science stayed up with the bill."
Bettina Poirier, Boxer's senior staff director and chief counsel, said the scope of the bill's coverage is broadened significantly by adding the natural gas industry.
Poirier said one of the amendments would allow for greater flexibility in adjusting the cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions. She said an expanded provision to regularly reexamine the program would help ensure the Environmental Protection Agency has the tools it needs to achieve the bill's goals. The EPA would have to implement the recommendations based on annual reports by the National Academy of the Sciences, Poirier said.
Boxer said she wasn't sure if the changes - part of a total of 17 amendments submitted - would win the 60 votes needed on the Senate floor to avoid a procedural block by opponents. According to the environmental group, Environmental Defense, 54 senators have expressed support for a cap-and-trade legislation in various forms.
President George W. Bush has said he is opposed to any cap-and-trade system.
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