| Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act |
| S. 2191 |
| Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), John Warner (R-Va.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). |
| An economy-wide cap-and-trade bill that covers the six-primary U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride). Approved 11-8 by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Dec. 5, 2007. |
| Power plants and large manufacturing and commercial facilities would face mandatory regulations, as well as transportation fuels at the refinery or the import terminal. Separate caps for HFC consumption. |
| Emissions would be capped from at 4 percent below 2005 levels in 2012; 19 percent below 2005 levels in 2020; 37 percent below 2005 levels in 2030; 55 percent below 2005 levels in 2040; and 70 percent below 2005 levels in 2050. |
| Statements praising the EPW Committee upon the bill's passage came from NRDC, Environmental Defense, the Nature Conservancy, Environment America and Oxfam. |
| Auction increases from 26.5 percent in 2012 to 69.6 percent from 2031-2050. Some sector-specific free allowances at the program's start, including 19 percent for power plants, 10 percent for manufacturers (reaches zero in 2031), 11 percent for states, 9 percent to load serving entities. There's also a 5 percent set-aside for domestic agriculture and forestry. |
| Companies can generate credits when they fund no-till farming practices, reforestation efforts, or climate-friendly projects in developing countries, akin to Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism program. Limit of 15 percent for domestic offsets; 15 percent on international allowances. |
| Creates a Carbon Market Efficiency Board to track carbon trading much like the Federal Reserve monitors the U.S. economy. The board would monitor prices and allow industry a flexible option if compliance prices stay too high for too long. |
| Amendment added in committee establishes a California-like Low Carbon Fuel Standard that would gradually reduce the amount of carbon in the nation's fuel mix. Also 5 percent of allowances set aside in 2012 for companies that made reductions well before launch of the U.S. law. Free allowances phase out in 2017. Also creates bonus allowances for carbon capture and storage, funds and incentives for technology, adaptation and dampening effects on the poor. The National Academy of Sciences would be charged with conducting a three-year review to ensure limits comply with scientific warnings. |
| Safe Climate Act of 2007 |
| H.R. 1590 |
| Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and 141 cosponsors, as of Sept. 20., 2007 |
| Most aggressive of the House proposals. Calls on U.S. EPA to set up a market-based, cap-and-trade system that would allow industrial sources of emissions to buy and sell credits to comply with the new law. And motor vehicles would face new emission requirements at least as strong as current rules in place in California. Also requires the Energy Department to set a renewable energy standard that would grow every year until 2020. At that point, 20 percent of retail electricity sold in the United States must be generated by renewables. |
| Leaves many decisions to EPA. Sectors with the "largest emissions" and the "most cost-effective opportunities to reduce emissions." |
| Calls for U.S. emissions to drop more than 80 percent from current levels by mid-century. Emissions must fall 2 percent per year in 2011 so that by 2020, U.S. emissions are no larger than 1990 levels. Emissions starting in 2021 must fall another 5 percent per year. |
| Several major environmental groups, including Sierra Club and U.S. PIRG. |
| Allowances to be distributed through an auction. Specifics left to president, EPA. |
| N/A |
| N/A |
| Creates a "Climate Reinvestment Fund" for auction revenue in U.S. Treasury. Funds used to help offset energy costs to consumers, transition assistance to workers and regions affected by the new policy, for new energy technologies.
|
| Climate Stewardship and Innovation
Act |
| S.
280 |
| Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Blanche Lincoln
(D-Ark.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Susan Collins
(R-Maine), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.),
Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). |
| Earlier versions of this bill have twice received Senate floor votes:
43-55 in 2003 and 38-60 in 2005. The measure creates a cap-and-trade program
covering 85 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane,
nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride). |
| Power plants and large manufacturing and commercial facilities would
face mandatory regulations, as well as transportation fuels at the refinery
or the import terminal. Covered units must release more than 10,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases per year. |
| Emissions would be capped from the four industrial sectors at 2004 levels
by 2012. In 2020, emissions would fall 14 percent from 2004 levels. The
2030 cap is 33 percent from 2004 levels. And in 2050, emissions drop about
67 percent below 2004 levels. |
| National Wildlife Federation, Environmental Defense, and the Pew Center
on Global Climate Change. |
| Sets guidelines for U.S. EPA to decide how much to auction and how much
to give for free to companies. Auction done by a newly established Climate
Change Credit Corporation. Proceeds from the auction go toward stimulation
of low-carbon technology, to help consumers and workers who are hurt from the program's
costs. Funds also go toward climate-related habitat restoration. |
| Companies can generate credits when they fund no-till farming practices,
reforestation efforts, or climate-friendly projects in developing countries,
akin to Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism program. |
| Unlimited trading across industrial sectors. Unlimited banking to put
extra credits away for future years' compliance. Borrowing from future
targets, with a 5-year term limit and an interest rate. |
| Programs to spur deployment of integrated gasification combined cycle power plants with capability to capture and sequester carbon dioxide emissions,
large scale solar power facilities, nuclear capacity, cellulosic biomass
plants. Requires nationwide inventory of sequestration potential, new guidelines to insure against leakage. Boost energy efficient building practices. Helps the National Science Foundation better prepare teachers on climate change. Adaptation research and coordination. |
| Global
Warming Pollution Reduction Act |
| S.
309 |
| Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Barbara Boxer
(D-Calif.), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), Daniel
Inouye (D-Hawaii), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.),
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Sheldon
Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Joe Biden (D-Del.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bob Casey
(D-Pa.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) |
| This climate change bill would be a new title
to the Clean Air Act. It would have the most sweeping effect of any piece
of global warming legislation, with multiple programs designed to curb "dangerous
interference" with the Earth's climate. Sets a global goal to keep
average temperatures from rising no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit by
stabilizing global concentrations of CO2 at 450 parts per million. |
| Economy-wide, most major sectors of U.S. economy,
including power plants and transportation. |
| The bill first sets broad emission goals, with
cuts of 2 percent each year between 2010-2020. Then a 27 percent cut below
1990 levels by 2030, and 53 percent below 1990 levels by 2040. Cuts emissions
80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. New power plants that start operating
after 2012 must meet strict emission limits, equal to a natural gas combined
cycle unit. Sets up a renewable portfolio standard of 5 percent by 2008,
10 percent by 2010, 15 percent by 2015 and 20 percent by 2020. It establishes
a global warming regulation for new automobiles of all sizes equal to current
standards in California. Mandates major increase in renewable content for
fuels. Establishes energy efficiency targets. |
| Earth Day Network, Earthjustice, Environmental & Energy
Study Institute, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, League of Conservation
Voters, National Audubon Society, National Environmental Trust, Natural
Resources Defense Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Public
Citizen, Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, U.S. PIRG. |
| Decided by U.S. EPA. Cap-and-trade permitted,
but there is no requirement. Allocations would include transition help
for consumers, businesses. |
| Silent. |
| Up to the U.S. EPA, president. |
| Sets up new carbon sequestration programs,
including grants to demonstrate effectiveness in five regions of the country.
Puts United States back into international global warming negotiations.
Requires report on trade, economic and technological barriers if the United
States does not adopt measures to cut its emissions. Mandates climate change
consideration in all federal environmental impact statements. Calls for
new Securities and Exchange Commission rules for reporting on financial
exposure from global warming. |
| Electric
Utility Cap-and-Trade Act |
| S.
317 |
| Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) |
| The first of what is expected to be five bills
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This bill sets up a cap-and-trade program only for power plants. |
| Electric utilities. |
| Power plants must reach 2006 levels in 2011.
By 2015, emissions must fall to 2001 levels. After that, emissions fall
1 percent per year between 2016-2019. From 2020 and beyond, emissions fall
1.5 percent per year. The U.S. EPA can speed up reductions after 2019 if
scientific data shows more cuts are needed. |
| Calpine, Entergy, Exelon, Florida Power & Light,
PG&E Corp., Public Service Enterprise Group. |
| Starts with 15 percent of credits auctioned,
and 85 percent allocated based on electricity output. Auction steadily
increases to 57 percent of credits in 2025 and 100 percent by 2036. Eighty
percent of revenue goes to low- and zero-carbon electricity generation
technology research, development and deployment. Twenty percent of revenue
goes to habitat protection and adaptation. |
| Unlimited access to farming, wetland, and reforestation
credits. For 25 percent of compliance, existing power plants can also fund
international projects akin to Kyoto. |
| EPA can allow companies to borrow some emission
credits or to increase the use of international offsets up to 50 percent
if the price gets too high; the borrowed credits must be repaid with interest. |
| Research programs on abrupt climate change,
new emission measurement technologies, public land sequestration and sea
level rise from polar ice sheet melting. |
| Low Carbon
Economy Act |
| S.
1766 |
Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), Arlen Specter
(R-Pa.), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Lisa Murkowski
(R-Alaska), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.).
|
| Effort to gain bipartisan support for climate
legislation. A byproduct of recommendations from the National Commission
on Energy Policy. |
| Most sectors of the U.S. economy. Emissions
from petroleum and natural gas are regulated "upstream" at or
close to the point of fuel production. Emissions from coal are regulated "downstream," meaning
coal-fired power plants must hold the allowances. Other regulated industries
include natural gas processing plants, importers of petroleum products,
coal, coke or natural gas liquids. Also nonfuel related sources of greenhouse
gases, such as adipic acid production. |
| By 2020, U.S. emissions must return to 2006
levels. A decade later, emissions would drop to 1990 levels -- or about a 20 percent cut from the 2006 level. |
| From industry, Duke Energy Corp., Exelon Corp.,
American Electric Power. From labor, the AFL-CIO, International Brotherhood
of Electric Workers, the United Mine Workers of America and the United
Auto Workers. |
| A mix. At the program's start in 2012, more
than 50 percent of the credits grandfathered to industry for free. That
figure is gradually lowered every year and eventually reached 25 percent
free allowances by 2030. Eight percent of allowances set aside every year
for carbon-capture and storage technologies, 5 percent to agriculture sequestration,
1 percent for 'early actors' and 9 percent to states for use at their discretion.
Also in 2012, 24 percent of allowances are auctioned, with revenue directed
to energy R&D, adaptation and assistance to low-income households.
Auctioned permits increase every year, eventually reaching 53 percent by
2030. |
| Domestic and international credits OK, including industries not covered by the cap-and-trade plan, geologic sequestration, landfill methane, animal waste projects, projects to destroy hydrofluorcarbons. |
| Price limit, or "safety valve," on
carbon set at $12 per ton. It then rises 5 percent per year above the rate
of inflation. Every five years, the president and Congress may review emission reduction progress of major U.S. trade partners and other large emitting nations. If countries by 2020 are not taking sufficient action to lower their own emissions, the president can order developing countries to buy U.S. credits if they want to import carbon-intensive goods. |
| Up to $25 billion a year set aside to support
technology development and adaptation. |
| Climate
Stewardship Act |
| H.R.
620 |
| As of Aug. 31, 2007, 129 cosponsors. Early
cosponsors include Reps. John Olver (D-Mass.), Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.),
Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), Michael Castle (R-Del.), Elijah Cummings (D-Md.),
Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Phil Hare (D-Ill.), Jane
Harman (D-Calif.), Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), Mark
Kirk (R-Ill.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Jim Saxton (R-N.J.), Christopher
Shays (R-Conn.), Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and James
Walsh (R-N.Y.). |
| The House version of Lieberman-McCain global
warming legislation with some differences, including a more aggressive
set of emission cuts by 2050 and no title aimed specifically at promoting
new energy technologies. Covers 85 percent of the U.S. economy. |
| Power plants and large manufacturing and commercial
facilities would face mandatory regulations, as well as transportation
fuels at the refinery or the import terminal. Covered units must release
more than 10,000 million tons of greenhouse gases per year. |
| Emissions would be capped from the four industrial
sectors at 2006 levels by 2012. Between 2013 and 2020, emissions fall 1
percent per year. Between 2021 and 2030, emissions fall 3 percent per year.
Between 2031 and 2050, emissions cut 5 percent per year. That means a 70
percent cut below 1990 levels in 2050. |
| N/A |
| Sets guidelines for EPA to decide how much
to auction and how much to give for free to companies. Auction done by
a newly established Climate Change Credit Corporation. Proceeds from the
auction go toward stimulation of low-carbon technology, to help consumers
who are hurt from the program's costs, and for communities and workers
that face economic hardships from the new limits. Funds also go toward
climate-related habitat restoration. |
| Companies can generate up to 15 percent of
their credits when they fund no-till farming practices, reforestation efforts,
or climate-friendly projects in developing countries, akin to Kyoto Protocol's
Clean Development Mechanism program. |
| Unlimited trading across industrial sectors.
Unlimited banking to put extra credits away for future years' compliance.
Borrowing from future targets, with a 5-year term limit and an interest
rate. |
| Establishes a national greenhouse gas database
to monitor emissions, emission cuts and sequestration. Stimulates research
on abrupt climate change, new emission measuring technologies, technology
development and climate change's effects on coastal areas. |
| Clean
Air Planning Act |
| S.
1177 |
| Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Joe Biden (D-Del.),
Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Dianne
Feinstein (D-Calif.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Blanche
Lincoln (D-Ark.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and John Sununu (R-N.H.). |
| Aimed at power plants, which produce about
a third of the U.S. total for greenhouse gas emissions. This proposal first
appeared in 2002-03 during debate over President Bush's "Clear Skies" initiative
to reduce electric utility emissions. |
| Deals solely with power plant pollution of
nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury and carbon dioxide. |
| The bill calls for reductions in SO2 emissions
by 82 percent by 2015 (from 11 million tons to a cap of 2 million tons),
reductions in NOx by 68 percent by 2015 (from 5 million tons to a cap of
1.6 million tons), and reductions in mercury of 90 percent by 2015. For
CO2, emissions capped at current levels in
2012 and 2001 levels in 2015. After 2015, power plants would reduce
CO2 emissions annually through 2050, when emission levels will be at least
25 percent below 1990 levels. |
| Support from American Lung Association, National
Parks Conservation Association and Environmental Defense. It also has the
backing of the Clean Energy Group, a coalition of power companies with
heavy portfolios of nuclear power, including Calpine Corp., Entergy Corp.,
Florida Power and Light Co., and PG&E Corp. |
| About 85 percent of the credits given to power
plants for free based on their energy use. This system, known as an output-based
approach, rewards gas companies, nuclear power plants and "clean coal" plants
that run more efficiently and produce fewer tons of CO2. Free allocations
gone after about 20 years, turning into an auction with revenue geared
toward technology development and adaptation. |
| Available offsets from
farmers adopting low-till practices, landfill operations,
agriculture manure projects, forest-based projects, reduction in emission
of sulfur hexafluoride projects, energy efficiency projects, wastewater
treatment facilities, coal mining operations, natural gas transmission
and distribution systems, electrical transmission and distribution systems,
and fossil fuel combustion at commercial and residential buildings. EPA
can also add additional project categories to the program. |
| Offsets are the primary cost-control mechanism. |
| Sets up an extra reserve of CO2 allowances
to encourage clean-coal technologies. Also prohibits allocations to any
coal-fired power plant that enters operation on January 1, 2007, or later
unless powered by qualifying advanced clean-coal technology. |
| Clean
Air/Climate Change Act |
| S.
1168 |
| Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Joe Lieberman
(I-Conn.). |
| Aimed at power plants, which produce about
a third of the U.S. total for greenhouse gas emissions. With this proposal,
Alexander split with Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) over the method for distributing
emission allowances. |
| Power plants. |
| The bill calls for more than 80 percent reductions
in SO2 by 2015 and nearly 70 percent cuts in NOx. It also requires a 90
percent reduction in mercury. For CO2, emissions cuts must reach 2006 levels
in 2011 and then fall to 1.5 billion metric tons by 2025. |
| N/A |
| 75 percent of the credits given to electric
utilities for free through an "input" system that favors historic
fuel use. |
| Offsets allowed in five categories, including
methane capture, sulfur hexafluoride projects, efficiency and forest sequestration. |
| No provisions for price control. |
| New source performance standards for CO2 emissions
from electric power plants. |
|
| S.
1201 |
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Joe Lieberman
(I-Conn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.).
|
| Also designed just for power plant emissions.
This bill was modelled after a proposal pitched in 2006 by then-Sen.
Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.). |
| Power plants. |
| Power plants must reduce their toxic mercury
emissions to 5 tons, with specific requirements that every utility in the
country capture at least 90 percent. Also would force more aggressive reductions
in nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides when compared with the Bush administration's
Clean Air Interstate Rule. To address global warming, the measure would
freeze CO2 emissions at their current levels by 2011 before phasing in
a series of cuts over the next two decades. The bill's CO2 target culminates
in 2025 with a 17 percent reduction below 1990 levels. |
| U.S. PIRG, National Environmental Trust, the
American Lung Association and National Wildlife Federation. |
| Calls for U.S. EPA to set up a trading program.
At least 50 percent of the CO2 allowances must be auctioned in 2020.
Eventually the auction reaches 100 percent by 2035. EPA can allocate additional
allowances, giving special preference to limiting the financial burdens
on energy consumers. Allowances for NOx and SO2 would be distributed for
free to industry until 2012 and then at EPA's discretion after. |
| Requires Agriculture Department to establish
offset standards for biological sequestration. |
| No specific provision for price controls. |
| The legislation also acknowledges the prospect
that Congress might only address greenhouse gases from power plants. Under
the Sanders bill, electric utilities would be forced to cut their emissions
an additional 3 percent per year beginning in 2012 if Congress and the
president have not approved legislation addressing 85 percent of man-made
emissions. The requirement would not end until global concentrations of
greenhouse gases stabilize at 450 parts per million. |
| America's
Climate Security Act |
| Lieberman-Warner
draft |
| Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner
(R-Va.) |
| An attempt to forge compromise among two moderate
voices on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The proposal
is expected to come out in legislative form by mid-September. |
| Economy wide. |
| Electric utilities, major industrial manufacturers
and petroleum refiners and importers would be required to limit their emissions
to 2005 levels beginning in 2012. Those sources must then cut their greenhouse
gases 10 percent by 2020, with an end target of a 70 percent reduction
in 2050. |
| N/A |
| More than half of the annual pollution credits
would be distributed for free to the power companies and manufacturers
most directly confronted with new requirements. A newly created Climate
Change Credit Corporation also would oversee an auction for the distribution
of 24 percent of the credits. Over time, the free allowances for the electric
utility industry would be slowly phased out. By 2035, power companies would
have to purchase their credits through an auction. Auction revenue every
year would go toward a variety of efforts, including 20 percent to a public-private
partnership working on the commercialization of low and zero-greenhouse
gas electricity sources. Another 20 percent would go solely to the deployment
of a power plant that can capture and store carbon dioxide underground
in deep geologic formations. |
| To limit costs, the proposal would set up a
seven-member Carbon Market Efficiency Board that tracks the
cap-and-trade system much like the Federal Reserve monitors the U.S. economy.
The board would track prices for carbon dioxide in the emerging U.S. market
and allow industry a flexible option if compliance prices stay too high
for too long. |
| Allows industry to meet up to 15 percent of
its emission requirements through the purchase of carbon offsets, such
as sound farming and forestry practices and methane capture. The formal
legislation, the senators said, would include "detailed, rigorous
requirements" to make sure the offsets represent "real, additional,
verifiable and permanent emissions reductions." |
| U.S. trading partners must purchase pollution
credits for their carbon-intensive exports if they do not have sufficient
global warming policies in place. The president of the United States would
have to impose the trade restrictions within eight years of the start of
the U.S. program. |
| Save
Our Climate Act |
| H.R.
2069 |
| Reps. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and Jim McDermott
(D-Wash.). |
Takes an alternative regulatory approach for climate change through a carbon tax.
|
| n/a |
| The bill would tax coal, petroleum and natural
gas at $10 per ton of carbon content when the fuel is either extracted
or imported. The tax would increase $10 every year until the Energy Department
and Internal Revenue Service determine U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have
dropped 80 percent from 1990 levels. |
| No specific endorsements, though advocates
for a carbon tax include former Vice President Al Gore and Democratic presidential
candidate Sen. Chris Dodd (Conn.). |
| No allocations or auction, though the tax concept
is equal to a 100 percent auction. Revenues would go to the U.S. Treasury |
| N/A |
| Tax refunds would be available for fuels used
in the processes that sequster carbon dioxide, such as carbon capture and
storage or plastics manufacturing. |
| N/A |
