US Senate climate bill to be unveiled April 26
By Richard Cowan
Reuters.com
* Backers hope for Senate
vote in June or July
* Measure could affect states' climate control activities (Adds reaction
from American Petroleum Institute)
WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) - A long-awaited compromise bill to
reduce U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for
global warming will be unveiled by a group of senators on April 26,
sources said on Thursday.
The legislative language to be sketched out in 11 days, according to
government and environmental sources, is being drafted by Democratic
Senator John Kerry, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and independent
Senator Joseph Lieberman.
Backers of the environmental bill hope the unveiling will pave the way
for the full Senate to debate and pass a measure in June or July if the
compromise attracts enough support from a group of moderate Republicans
and Democrats.
Republican Senator Judd Gregg told Reuters he was "committed to getting
something that addresses our energy needs in a constructive and
comprehensive way." He added he did not know yet whether he would
support the bill being developed.
President Barack Obama has made climate change one of his top priorities
and took steps recently to show Republicans he was serious, including
expanding federal aid for building nuclear power facilities and allowing
more domestic offshore oil drilling -- initiatives to be included in the
Senate compromise.
The White House is also eager to show the rest of the world the United
States is ready to take a leadership role on global warming, including
to help kick-start stalled international efforts to tackle the problem.
Despite vocal climate change skeptics in the United States, leading
scientific groups have been hoping the United States, the biggest
emitter of greenhouse gases after China, would take action.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Thursday
the world's combined land and ocean surface temperatures in March were
the hottest on record.
Once the senators formally sketch out their bill, Senate Democratic
Leader Harry Reid will decide the next steps in a year crowded with
competing legislative priorities and congressional elections in
November.
The bill could face stiff opposition from lawmakers in states with
economies heavily dependent on oil and coal.
Lou Hayden, a policy expert at the American Petroleum Institute, said
his group would not support the bill unless it went through an economic
analysis by the Energy Information Administration, an independent arm of
the Energy Department.
The bill is already slated to be analyzed by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and the Congressional Budget Office, which could take
more than a month.
BILL MIGHT END STATE/REGIONAL CARBON TRADE PROGRAMS
Kerry, Lieberman and Graham have been working for months on a global
warming compromise significantly different from a measure passed last
year by the House of Representatives and a bill approved by the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee. It also takes many elements from
those bills.
Like the House-passed bill and Obama administration policy, it would set
a target of 17 percent reductions in smokestack emissions of carbon
dioxide by 2020, from 2005 levels.
Point Carbon, an energy markets consulting service, estimated the
anticipated Senate bill would result in U.S. gasoline prices rising an
average of 27 cents a gallon from 2013 to 2020. The bill is expected to
contain a fee on motor fuels.
On Wednesday, a Senate source told Reuters the legislation would
prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon
dioxide emissions. It would also end state and regional carbon-trading
programs, such as the one several Northeastern states participate in, to
be replaced by a national carbon reduction policy. [N14150360]
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, with 10 participating states
from Vermont to Maryland, has raised over $582 million for state
efficiency and climate programs, said Environment Northeast, a Boston
research group.
Peter Shattuck, a carbon markets policy analyst there, said shutting the
program could create concerns among the states over lost revenues.
A group of nine senators, mostly from Midwestern manufacturing states,
urged Kerry, Graham and Lieberman in a letter on Thursday to take into
account jobs in their states.
"Without such a plan, we are concerned that the legislation will
ultimately be unsuccessful," Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown and
others wrote. (Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington and
Ros Krasny in Boston; Editing by Peter Cooney)