In December, a bipartisan climate policy bill was quietly introduced in the U.S. Senate. Senators Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington state, and Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, introduced S. 2877, the Carbon Limits and Energy for America's Renewal (CLEAR) Act. The CLEAR bill has attracted increasing attention, including the lead editorial in today's Washington Post and a great commentary piece by Minnesota's own David Morris in the January 29 edition of the Star Tribune.

The CLEAR Act would set limits on global warming pollution, resulting in carbon cuts of 20 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 based on 2005 levels. In doing so, it would create the economic signal that will spur creation of new jobs in clean energy. By requiring fossil fuel producers and importers to buy carbon allowances at auction, and returning the bulk of those auction revenues to American households, this cap-and-dividend policy would make polluters pay and offset the increased energy prices they would pass on to consumers.

The CLEAR Act would require that fuel producers buy carbon shares at a monthly auction--this is the framework of a 100 percent auction of carbon permits recommended by then-Senator Obama during his presidential campaign. Seventy-five percent of the revenue from those auctions would be distributed equally as a dividend to every legal resident of the United States. Every U.S. citizen would receive a monthly check, amounting to an estimated $1,100 per year for a family of four. The remaining twenty-five percent of the carbon shares revenue would be invested in clean energy research and development, energy efficiency, and to address regional disparities as the country transitions to a clean energy economy, among other climate purposes.

The bill would prevent Wall Street speculators' involvement in the auctions, and would not allow carbon offsets that are so problematic in other policies.

You can learn more from the websites of the bill authors, Senator Collins and Senator Cantwell.