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.
Posted by: J. Drake Hamilton in Renewable Energy Standard, policy, legislation, global warming, federal issues, economy, economic development, carbon regulation, cap and auction, ACES on
Jun 23, 2009
June 23, 2009
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative:
On behalf of the millions of members and volunteers that our organizations represent, we write to urge you to support final passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES).
We also urge you to do everything possible to strengthen the bill between now and final passage, and along its journey to the President's desk.
ACES will help build America's clean energy economy and launch the United States' first national plan of action to address the growing threat of climate change. ACES offers our country the most important opportunity in generations to jumpstart our economy, create millions of new, well-paying jobs, and set the stage for America to compete and prosper in a 21st century economy.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued an analysis on June 19 showing how little it would cost American families to begin taking responsible action on global warming. The CBO estimated that the net annual economywide cost of the cap program in 2020 would be about $175 per household. This is $15 per month, or about the cost of a postage stamp per day (p. 15 of the analysis).
As the federal debate about cap and trade heats up and people start engaging in discussions about it, it's important to remember something: nobody knows what it is.
A poll that was released today by Zogby shows that a majority of voters nationwide support President Obama's call for a carbon cap. Poll takers were responding to President Obama's February 24 statement that:
President Obama faces an urgent December deadline in Copenhagen. His success or failure will determine whether the world drifts listlessly or makes a bold course change commensurate with the urgency of the climate crisis. New science since IPCC 2007 reinforces this immediacy, given the acceleration of global ice melt, extreme weather events, dangerous feedback loops, and potentially irreversible changes.
Peter Barnes and I had an opportunity to meet last week at a Tarrytown, NY gathering of groups to engage in a strategy conversation about cap and trade and its elegant cousin cap and dividend. Peter devised this policy approach to pricing carbon. In this video clip, Peter Barnes and I discuss the idea behind his seminal 2001 book Who Owns the Sky? When I first read that book my reaction was, "Wow, that would actually work." Imagine a global warming solution that fairly allocates the atmosphere's limited ability to absorb CO2 using a market price on carbon emissions, in a way that's simple, fair, transparent, and politically popular.
I am fascinated by Steven Chu, Barack Obama's Secretary of Energy. I first heard him speak in St. Peter, MN at the Nobel conference in 2007, and thought, "Wow, imagine if he were in power."
If you read just two blogs on energy and climate, read ours. If you only read one, read the brilliant and tireless work of Joe Romm at ClimateProgress, who had an amazing year, and who yesterday beautifully summarized the Top Ten Global Warming Stories of 2008. This blog post is about story number five on Joe's list, "350 is the new 450."
Fresh Energy Blog