Folks the President tonight is going to push for real energy legislation that includes climate legislation. I think the only thing that would have a chance of passing the Senate would be the Cantwell Collins CLEAR Act
The CLEAR act, while not the most progressive piece of legislation would be a great start.
From the Hill:
The bill opens a major new front in the Senate climate debate.
Cantwell is among several lawmakers wary of launching a large new carbon emissions trading market, which the bill strongly constrains. Collins, meanwhile, is an important swing vote for advocates of mandatory missions emissions limits.
The Cantwell-Collins plan requires a declining limit on the amount of carbon from fossil energy sources in U.S. commerce, and directly refunds 75 percent of the revenues from government auctions of emissions permits to consumers in order to offset higher energy costs.
The emissions limits are applied only to entities that produce or import products like oil and coal for sale in the U.S. economy -- a sharp contrast to the major House and Senate cap-and-trade plans that govern a larger universe of sources, such as power plants and factories.
With the ongoing BP oil spill the time is ripe for the President to make the sale to the American people that we have to get off the oil and limit the damaging effects of burning fossil fuels.
The bills goal is to cut carbon emissions by 20% by 2020 and over 80% by 2050. However the sweetner for the consumer will be the fact that instead of traders reaping profits from trading carbon contracts, the consumer will be given 75% of the proceeds from government selling these carbon shares. I.e. the dividend of "Cap and Dividend".
A family of four would receive an average of $1,100 annually through 2030 under the "cap and refund" approach, according to Cantwell’s office.
No way the GOP could call this "Cap and Tax" as consumers would be given a check every year. Over time I could also see additional legislation being implemented as legislators would certainly want to increase the amount of dollars going to their constituents. Could you imagine a Republican tryin to take away money from people?
BTW the other 25% goes toward a fund setup for alternative energy creation.
Beyond the 75 percent of proceeds from federal emissions permit auctions steered to consumers, the remaining 25 percent would go to a new "clean energy reinvestment trust fund."
Money from this fund would provide aid to workers and industries affected by the emissions-curbing mandate; programs to develop and deploy low-carbon energy sources; home weatherization programs; and various other initiatives to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.
So any future improvement with the legislation and subsequent increases in proceeds would put more money into the clean energy fund setup within the legislation...brilliant.
An like I mentioned above Wall Street would be prevented from participating in the carbon auctions, limiting the hanky-panky that that would surely bring.
Support the CLEAR Act and Support Senator Cantwell.