Bingaman Announces 10 Principles to Guide Future Climate Legislation
In a July 9 speech to the New Democrat Network, a group of more centrist party members, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) discussed four legislative strategies that have emerged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and outlined ten principles that he believes should be considered when Congress returns to the task of writing climate change legislation (following the failed effort on the Boxer-Lieberman-Warner bill).
Bingaman's thoughts of the four strategies advanced included:
- Funding new energy technology research and development - By itself, a technology development strategy cannot work because "new technology will always be more expensive than the conventional way of doing things," Bingaman believes;
- Imposing a carbon tax - He does not favor a carbon tax because we cannot know, ahead of time, what price would result in the most effective reductions of such emissions;
- Regulating greenhouse gas emitters through command-and-control regulations - Bingaman said this approach was "very impractical" and would also likely be more expensive to consumers;
- Implementing a cap-and-trade program - This approach is the most reasonable, Bingaman said, and has the advantage of placing a specific cap on total emissions, while incorporating flexible mechanisms that allow regulated entities to seek out the cheapest reductions.
The ten principles that Sen. Bingaman believes Congress should consider when crafting legislation in the future are:
- Focus on the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
- Avoid making climate change legislation excessively complicated;
- Be realistic about how well we can plan for the distant future;
- Make use of our existing departments and agencies to administer the programs and appropriating the funds through existing committee structures;
- Set ambitious but achievable targets for emission reductions;
- Provide assurances that the costs of a cap-and-trade system will not go out of control, either through excessive prices for emission allowances or excessive volatility;
- Make upfront commitment to technology even before cap-and-trade legislation could take effect;
- Figure out how any new climate change law will interact with the Clean Air Act;
- Ensure that we start the program up in a workable manner, including the initial deadlines and timelines that we set in law; and
- Create a single national cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), has primary jurisdiction over the Clean Air Act and climate change legislation. Ordinarily, the Senate does not refer bills to more than one committee, but it does happen, sometimes, on complex issues, such as this one. While Chairman Bingaman introduced his own climate bill (S. 1766), with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), his committee has not vigorously asserted jurisdiction over the issue. This speech could be an indication that Bingaman will become more active in claiming jurisdiction over certain aspects of the climate debate in the next Congress, which produce a bill that imposed fewer costs on electric consumers.
LIHEAP Letter Sent to Senate Leadership
On July 11, Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Susan Collins (R-ME), along with 35 other Senators, sent a letter to Senate leadership and members of the Senate Appropriations Committee calling for $2.5 billion in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding in a second 2008 "economic stimulus" package.
Co-signing the letter from New England were Sens. Dodd (D-CT), Kennedy (D-MA), Kerry (D-MA), Leahy (D-VT), Lieberman (I-CT), Sanders (I-VT), Snowe (R-ME), Sununu (R-NH), and Whitehouse (D-RI). The Appropriations Committee is likely to mark-up the second stimulus bill on July 22.
Under discussion for inclusion in a second stimulus bill are more infrastructure funding, more money for food stamps and state Medicaid programs and consumer rebates
REPI Funding Included in Senate Appropriations Bill
On July 10, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its Fiscal Year 2009 (FY 09) Energy and Water Development spending bill and provided $5 million for the Renewable Energy Production Incentive (REPI) program. The House Appropriations Committee earlier also appropriated $5 million in its FY 09 bill.
However, because of presidential election year politics and a looming veto fight with President Bush over FY 09 spending bills, most appropriations bills are not expected to go to the floor this year. Instead, Congress is expected to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government at FY 08 levels well into FY 09. REPI was funded at about $5 million in FY 08.
REPI provides qualifying public power and electric cooperative facilities annual incentive payments of 1.5 cents per kilowatt-hour (indexed for inflation) for the first 10-year period of their operation, subject to the availability of annual appropriations in each Federal fiscal year of operation.