Deal nearing on Senate climate bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate is close to wrapping up talks ahead of introducing a compromise climate change bill, said a top Democratic lawmaker who discussed ideas with industry groups on March 18, 2010. "We're planning to button up our efforts somewhere I hope next week," Senator John Kerry told reporters after meeting with a coalition that represents automakers, forestry and paper companies, Big Oil, steel, mining, electricity and others.
Kerry is working with Republican Senator Li ndsey Graham and independent Senator Joseph Lieberman on a bill to require U.S. industry to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases associated with global warming.
Indicating there was still work to be done, Kerry said, "We're trying to build support as we develop (bill) language."
Bruce Josten, an executive vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, left Wednesday's meeting with the three senators and told reporters: "They're being very constructive; they're trying to figure out how to make this work for the American economy."
The measure will not take the exact approach of legislation approved by the House of Representatives in June, and by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in November. This would set an economy-wide "cap and trade" direction to reducing carbon pollution.
Kerry said that while "a lot of language is there" to craft legislation, "we don't have a full outline" yet of a bill.
The climate bill has been stalled in the Senate and supporters have missed several informal deadlines for producing and passing a bill.
Under cap and trade, companies would face limits on the amount of carbon pollution Washington would let them emit. Those limits would become stricter over the next 40 years, when supporters want an 80 percent reduction from 2005 levels. Also, required pollution permits could be sold on a regulated market.
The three senators also talked about pollution reductions of 17 percent by 2020 below 2005 levels, a goal President Barack Obama has embraced.
The Chamber of Commerce, which says it represents more than 3 million U.S. businesses of all sizes, is staunchly opposed to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulation of carbon dioxide.
The three senators said on Wednesday the bill would pre-empt the EPA from regulating the gases, said a source with knowledge of the meeting.
The EPA is ready to issue final regulations as early as March 31 for automobile carbon emissions. That would clear the way for expanding regulations to smokestack emissions, although the agency prefers Congress tackles that problem.
Instead of an economy-wide cap and trade, the three senators are aiming to impose the market system initially on power companies, which contribute about 40 percent of carbon emissions.
The senators are "talking about allowances for that sector that are built around pollution-reduction targets and prohibiting price spikes," Josten said.
Power plants would face emissions limits starting in 2012 while big manufacturers and energy-intensive industry would not face limits until 2016, the source said.
The senators presented an eight-page outline to the industry groups but took it back at the end of the meeting, he added.
The bill would also include a hard price collar that would keep carbon prices between $10 and $30 a ton. Any polluter emitting below 25,000 tons a year would not be regulated, the source said.
As for a possible oil industry tax, the senators discussed a fee on fuels linked to the market price of carbon. The fee would be visible to consumers at petroleum pumps and on airline tickets, the source said.
A tax at the oil refinery level that would not be as visible to consumers has also been discussed by the senators.
Once a bill is put together, the Congressional Budget Office will analyze the potential costs to the federal government and the economy. EPA also is expected to conduct a six- to eight-week analysis of the bill before it could be debated on the Senate floor, possibly in June.
EPA Announces $7.8 million in Grants to 20 Climate Showcase Communities
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that 20 U.S. communities,
including two Indian Tribes, will receive $7.8 million in grants to develop
and implement projects that will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These
funds will help Climate Showcase Communities achieve broad environmental, economic,
and social benefits.
Preliminary calculations by the grant applicants estimate that by 2012 these
projects will reduce about 135,000 metric tons of GHG emissionsannually—equivalent
to the emissions from 25,000 passenger vehicles or 12,000 homes. They will also
save more than $4.5 million per year in energy costs. Many of these projects
also have a jobs focus: either creating or maintaining jobs, or providing green
job training.
The funded communities are showing their commitment to mitigating climate change
by contributing more than $5.6 million in matching or leveraged funds and committing
to sharing lessons learned with other localities. Grantees selected for the
Climate Showcase funds were also required to show their ability to achieve ongoing
GHG reductions as well as to track, measure, and show progress toward their
goals.
An additional $2.2 million is in final review and expected to be awarded in
the next few months to five additional local and tribal governments.
The Climate Showcase Communities Grant Program is administered by EPA’s
State and Local Climate and Energy program, which provides technical assistance,
tools, and guidance to help state, local, and tribal governments implement policies
and programs to mitigate climate change. EPA will monitor the progress of grant
recipients and will post quarterly updates about each recipient online.
To view profiles of each Climate Showcase Community, please visit: http://epa.gov/statelocalclimate/local/showcase/
The 20 Climate Showcase Communities are:
• Gila River Indian Community, AZ
• City of El Cerrito, CA
• Sacramento County, CA
• City and County of Denver, CO
• City and County of Honolulu, HI
• City of Chicago, IL
• City of Springfield, MA
• City of Baltimore, MD
• Northern Cheyenne Tribe, MT
• Durham City County, NC
• Land of Sky Regional Planning Council, NC
• Township of Cherry Hill, NJ
• City of Cincinnati, OH
• City of Eugene, OR
• West Chester Area School District, PA
• City of Warwick, RI
• Salt Lake City, UT
• James City County, VA
• City of Bellingham, WA
• City of Bremerton, WA
Report From Smart Growth Conference: Seattle, 2010
The 9th annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference: Building
Safe, Health, and Livable Communities" conference held Feb
4 - 6, 2010, in Seattle, WA was an inspiring experience for Kamala Barbara Joy
of Earth Matters, Inc.
Over 1,700 attendees including elected officials, city, county, regional, state
and federal planners at the technical, policy and executive levels, non-profits,
academics, consultants, business representatives, and senior cabinet level officials
were in attendance.
Organized by the Local Government Commissionwww.lgc.org and sponsored by over 100 organizations and agencies, many of whom belong, like Earth Matters, to the Smart Growth Networkwww.smartgrowth.org, the conference explored topics such as climate change, environmental justice, transportation, green building, green infrastructure, land preservation, schools, public health, and many other topics in break-out sessions, implementation workshops and training workshops. Despite the enormous variety of topics covered, the conference was organized in a manner that allowed participants to go into considerable depth in topics of expertise while gaining a firm foundation in newer topics.
During the opening plenary the secretaries of HUD, DOT, and assistant administrator of the EPA communicated their vision for a new America and clearly meant it: as the EPA representative put it, "we're getting up in each other's business" as they meet, plan, and co-review grantee applications and proposed regulations and guidelines.
During the three days of sessions, issues as diverse as tools for modeling emission benefits of land use changes to obesity and Complete Streets programs were attended by equally diverse groups of people. Personally, to hear the persepectives of CDC, EPA, city council members, visionaries, realtors, the AARP, transit agencies, biologists, attorneys, planners, the American Heart Association, just to give a flavor, was unprecedented for me, and inspiring.
The conference concluded with a speech by Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and a rousing 30 minute call to action by Ron Simms, deputy administrator of HUD that ended with a standing ovation and thundrous applause.
I'm looking forward to presenting next year!