Hill Heat

In a letter to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) outlined his policy priorities for the comprehensive climate legislation Sen. Kerry is authoring. Levin’s letter highlights “some of the points I made at the March 2 meeting on climate legislation” :

• Eliminate California waiver for automotive emissions
• Pre-empt EPA from Clean Air Act regulation of stationary sources
• A “realistic and firm” price collar
• A “delay of at least 10 years in regulation of industrial sources”
• “Sufficient” allowances for industrial sources
• Trade provisions “to assure a level playing field”
• A “100% emissions-based distribution formula” for permits to electricity generation

Although Levin’s language is unclear, the “delay of at least 10 years in regulation of industrial sources” appears to refer to individual site performance standards, not a decade-long delay in including industrial polluters under a market-based cap.

Giving allowances away to polluters for free based on their historic emissions, or “grandfathering,” says Environment America, “rewards owners of highly polluting facilities and discourages innovation.” Europe’s grandfathered cap-and-trade system generated $100 billion in windfall profits before they moved to an auctioned-credit system.

The liberal organization MoveOn is strongly opposed to pre-emption of the Clean Air Act in climate legislation.

Full text of the letter below:

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has endorsed the Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal (CLEAR) Act (S. 2877), co-sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). In a letter sent to the senators, AARP Executive Vice President for Social Impact Nancy LeaMond embraced the CLEAR Act’s program of monthly rebate checks to all Americans paid for by a full auction of crabon credits.

The letter has some logical inconsistencies, claiming that AARP does not “advocate for any specific targets or structure for reducing carbon emissions and allocating emissions credits” but later stating that CLEAR’s “federal auction of 100% of emissions credits” is one of the features “essential to helping residential consumers transition to a clean energy economy.”

AARP has no official position on the existence of man-made climate change (“we do not take positions on the scientific issues underlying the debate on global warming”).

Full text of letter below:

Max Baucus (D-Mont)

E&E News For this bill [green tax extenders], most of the activity is behind us. This bill reached its stride. We see the finish line ahead on Tuesday or so, and we expect a final push then.

Mark Begich (D-Alaska)

E&E News I felt I got a lot [from K-G-L] of what I needed, understanding the timetable and the schedule, and what sources will be regulated first, which won’t be.

Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)

E&E News We want this bill to work for jobs. It’s ultimately an energy independence, jobs and environmental bill together. We don’t have details yet, but we’re making progress.

Ben Cardin (D-Md.)

E&E News There’s the potential for a broader coalition supporting this.

Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

E&E News Offshore drilling and energy independence is essential to any bill I would support. There’s a way to drill for oil and gas offshore that will really lead to energy independence.

Yesterday, the South Dakota legislature passed a resolution telling public schools to teach “balance” about the “prejudiced” science of climate change by a vote of 37-33. Earlier language that ascribed “astrological” influences to global warming was stripped from the final version.

There are at least fifteen state legislatures attempting to prevent limits on greenhouse gas pollution. The states of Alabama and global warming endangerment finding, with legislators in thirteen more states in tow. Several of these resolutions argue that the scientific consensus on the threat of manmade global warming is actually a conspiracy:

KENTUCKY: “WHEREAS, a recent disclosure of communications among scientists associated with the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia has cast serious doubt upon the scientific data that have purportedly supported the finding that manmade carbon dioxide has been a material cause of global warming or global climate change . . .”

MARYLAND: “WHEREAS, E–mail and other communications between climate researchers around the globe discovered as part of the recent “climate–gate” controversy indicate that there is a well–organized and ongoing effort to manipulate global temperature data and incorporate tricks to substantiate the theory of climate change . . . “

OKLAHOMA: “WHEREAS, intense public scrutiny has revealed how unsettled the science is on climate change and the unwillingness of many of the world’s climatologists to share data or even entertain opposing viewpoints on the subject . . .”

UTAH: “WHEREAS, emails and other communications between climate researchers around the globe, referred to as ‘Climategate,’ indicate a well organized and ongoing effort to manipulate global temperature data in order to produce a global warming outcome . . .”

Every resolution makes the claim that protecting citizens from hazardous climate pollution would hurt the economy, instead of spurring a green recovery. Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Alaska lawmakers talk about being “dependent” on their states’ coal and oil industries. Several of the resolutions, drafted early last year, call on Congress to reject the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), which passed the House of Representatives in June but has languished in the Senate. The Alaska and West Virginia resolutions support Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) effort to rewrite the Clean Air Act (S.J.Res. 26), and Alabama’s resolution calls for the passage of Rep. Earl Pomeroy’s (D-ND) similar effort (H.R. 4396).

Bizarrely, Arizona state senator Sylvia Allen’s (R-AZ) resolution argues that the U.S. Congress does not have the Constitutional authority to regulate greenhouse gas pollution. Allen also believes the Earth is 6000 years old. The other Arizona resolution, along with the Kentucky, Virginia, and Washington resolutions, would attempt to block state enforcement of global warming rules.

These efforts to overturn the Clean Air Act and politicize established science are being supported by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a national organization that brings conservative state lawmakers together with industry. ALEC promotes a resolution opposing the endangerment finding drafted by its Natural Resources Task Force, which includes over 120 lawmakers from around the nation and a similarly sized group of corporate representatives. Although ALEC does not have an official position on the validity of climate science, the organization is “actively involved in helping people get together and share ideas,” a representative told Hill Heat. For example, the spring ALEC task force meeting will feature noted climate conspiracy theorist Paul Driessen, the author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death.

States With Resolutions Opposing Greenhouse Endangerment Finding
State	Bill	Sponsor	Status	Notes
AK	HJR 49	Stoltze ( R)	Pending	Supports Murkowski
AL	HJR 218	Gipson ( R)	Enacted	Supports Pomeroy
AZ	HB 2442 SCR 1050	Burges ( R) Allen ( R)	Pending	Blocks state enforcement Tenther resolution
FL	HR 1357 SR 958	Stephens ( R) Pearson ( R)	Pending	Supports overturn
IL	HR 961 SR 666	Phelps (D) Forby ( D)	Pending	Opposes Waxman-Markey
KS	SR 1809	Natural Resources Committee	Pending	Opposes “administrative fiat” by EPA
KY	HJR 20	Fischer ( R)	Pending	Cites hacked emails to block state enforcement
MD	HJR 13	Jenkins ( R)	Pending	Cites “climate change conspiracy” to oppose EPA
MO	HCR 46 HCR 59	Funderburk ( R) Brown ( R)	Pending	Opposes Waxman-Markey, EPA
OK	SCR 41	Lamb ( R)	Adopted by Senate	Cites “unsettled” science to support overturn
UT	EPA withdrawal
VA	HB1357	Morefield ( R)	Pending	“Carbon dioxide shall not be considered air pollution”
WA	S 6477	Stevens ( R)	Pending	Blocks state enforcement
WV	HCR 34	Shott ( R)	Pending	Cites “vigorous, legitimate, and substantive” scientific debate to support Murkowski

Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

E&E News Yeah, it’s complicated, but doable. You have to look at it anew. There are different ways to price carbon from different sectors of the economy.

John Kerry (D-Mass.)

E&E News If we want to get the economy moving, it seems to me, you have to build out an American grid. We have a gaping hole in the middle of our nation, which prohibits investment.

E&E News We’ll be coming out with a bill sometime soon and start engaging in the debate. A lot is happening behind the scenes.

John McCain (R-Ariz.)

E&E News I appreciate anybody’s efforts that’s trying to do anything, but I can’t join in an effort where nuclear power is basically out of the equation. They announce they’re closing Yucca Mountain, and they will not recycle. You can’t get there from here. You can have all the titles you want, but it doesn’t work.

Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)

E&E News It [the Murkowski amendment] completely obliterates all of EPA’s functions. If it were to pass, I don’t think the president would sign it, an automobile company in Detroit making cars they send all over America, each state would have its own CAFE standards. Not the way to run a country.

It [Rockefeller’s proposal to delay EPA regulation] clears out matters of that sort, and leaves them with the powers they need to have, but concentrates on the emission problems and gives us more time.

Bob Bennett (R-Utah)

E&E News This administration talks a good fight when it comes to wanting to increase our production of oil and gas… But every time they get a chance to back that up with dollars, they don’t.

Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)

Politico We can’t let the Chinese corner the market on wind turbines and solar panels.

Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.)

E&E News If you ask somebody who believes fervently in cap and trade and a lower carbon future, ‘What would you specifically do to achieve that?’ they’d talk about the very things we’ve put in this energy bill.

Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)

E&E News I would support it [funding GHG regulation]… There’s no question about greenhouse gas in my mind.

Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

Politico If you take some of the green stuff out, some of the goodies, and put it in the jobs bill, you’re hurting the idea of having an energy package that would attract support.

Mother Jones I’m not going to ask the environmental community to accept a compromise that doesn’t in a serious way deal with our carbon pollution problems… You’ll get some votes for a comprehensive package that you wouldn’t get for stand-alone proposals… If we can make the energy piece attractive enough for Republicans, there’s going to be more than a handful that would agree to emissions controls.

From the Wonk Room.

“Strong earnings from Exxon Mobil and bullish comments from coal analysts boosted the energy sector Monday” as climate negotiators say a global deal on climate change in 2010 is “all but impossible.”

“At a time when our country is struggling with a deep economic recession, the last thing I want the EPA to do is start regulating greenhouse gases without specific direction from Congress,” Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) said about the EPA budget plan that allocates $56 million for global warming regulation.

Indiana officials will not require insurance companies to complete a nationally approved climate risk survey, because it seems to advance a “politically driven agenda,” said Doug Webber, the state’s acting insurance commissioner.

Senators respond to the president’s budget, which does not assume any revenues from a cap-and-trade system, and allocates $56 million to the EPA for the implementation of greenhouse gas regulations.

Bob Bennett (R-Utah)

E&E News This administration talks a good fight when it comes to wanting to increase our production of oil and gas. But every time they get a chance to back that up with dollars, they don’t.

Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)

E&E News I would support it [budget proposal for EPA greenhouse gas regulation]. There’s no question about greenhouse gas in my mind.

Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

Politico We know the moving parts and getting the coalitions put together is what we’re working on. I’m pretty optimistic, quite frankly.

James Inhofe (R-Okla.)

E&E News Until such time as the lawsuits are filed … there may not be anything to do [to regulate greenhouse gases]. And so why fund something that doesn’t exist? That, in my opinion, is premature.

John Kerry (D-Mass.)

E&E News The White House is taking the right approach in calling for deficit-neutral legislation to reduce carbon emissions in the 2011 budget. As we continue to finalize legislation, it makes sense to avoid making revenue assumptions other than to specify that pollution reduction revenues should be used for climate-related purposes.

Mary Landrieu (D-La.)

E&E News It is unfortunate that the administration has chosen to escalate the cost of producing energy in America. Raising the costs of domestically produced energy only accelerates our dependence on lower-cost foreign oil.

Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)

E&E News I think to base a budget upon the passage of an economy wide cap and trade this year would be a very risky bet. It’s hard for me to imagine economy wide cap and trade passing the Senate in 2010.

John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)

E&E News Clearly, the sentiment of the Senate is that’s [cap-and-trade] not going to be something that’s going to pass.

Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.)

E&E News That’s [cap and trade] a less reliable source of revenue than they might have thought it was a year ago.”

Tom Carper (D-Del.)

E&E News The best thing about reducing energy use is that it’s not just good for the environment—it saves money, too.

John Kerry (D-Mass.)

E&E News See, what happened last time was it [cap-and-trade] went into the federal Treasury and it was unaccounted for… That set off a lot of alarm bells with people. That’s not what it’s meant to be, and that’s not what’s going to happen… I’m not ruling anything out, but I’m not suggesting anyone has ever talked about that right now… It’s not been a conversation and nobody has made that suggestion, and we hope we’re going to get 60 votes for this or more.

Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)

E&E News This [the administration’s loan guarantee pledge] is a good first step toward expanding our use of clean nuclear energy. The next step for the administration is to ensure that these loan guarantees are actually awarded in a timely manner.

Evan Bayh (D-Ind.)

E&E News You ask, is there a way? The answer is, I don’t know. But at a time of economic anxiety, it will be more difficult. Without the global cooperation from China, India and elsewhere, it just makes it that much harder.

Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)

E&E News I want to see us pass what we’ve been able to report out of committee. If we’re able to pass more, that’s great too.

E&E News I don’t think there’s any discussion of putting that [a renewable energy standard] into a jobs package as such. What they’re trying to do with this jobs package is identify things that will create jobs in 2010. And it’s harder to make the case this will create jobs in 2010. It’s very good policy, something I strongly support, but I think we may have to do it as part of an energy bill.

Ben Cardin (D-Md.)

E&E News There’s going to be some significant compromises that are going to have to be made if we’re going to get an energy bill done. We knew it two weeks ago. We knew it last week. We know it this week. This is nothing new. We knew we’d not be able to get a major energy bill done without some significant change. My expectation, if we succeed, there’ll be strong support for what we do from the environmental community. Will it be universal? I doubt it. But if we’re going to be able to get a bill done, there are compromises that are going to have to be made, and some groups are not going to be happy about it. Our goal is to make sure we reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There’s different ways you can accomplish that.

Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.)

E&E News Well, I hope we have significant investment for that type of funding [clean energy], but we will have to wait and see [what happens under a spending freeze].

Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)

E&E News I don’t think anybody has given up on cap and trade. I think big, comprehensive bills are very difficult to do in this environment, regardless of what it is. I tend to be an incrementalist. I say do what you can do, when you can do it. Because everything is opportunity and timing. If you have both, you can get it done. If you have only one, it’s very difficult to get it done.

Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

E&E News I think you’ve got to price carbon. You can have a hybrid system of emission controls and taxes.

John Kerry (D-Mass.)

E&E News We’re just going to keep everything on the table and not putting out a framework at this point. Some people have mentioned different sectoral approaches, we’re looking at that. We’re looking at everything. What we want to do is make sure that we get the job done. And we’re not wedded to any one way of trying to do that, so we’re looking at options.

E&E News There’s automatically going to be some small component in terms of the green jobs piece of this. That’s good. That’s fine. But I think the larger pieces require a more comprehensive approach to energy.

E&E News If it [Senate jobs bill] were to reach too far, it could have an impact, but I don’t think it is. And I think that’s been taken into consideration. I think it’s not a sufficiently broad enough piece that it has the ability to satisfy what needs to be done on the full energy front. There’s an immediate reaction to an election, but the reality is this issue isn’t going away. We have to deal with energy independence. We have to create jobs. We have to reduce pollution. That’s what we’re talking about. And there’s a point of reckoning at some point. ... I hope it’s going to be in the next months. And if it’s not, it will happen. Because it’s inevitable, at some point, we have to deal with this.

Asked if he was backing away from the climate bill’s prospects this year No, no, no, no, I’m just trying to be, I don’t want to promise anything. But it’s on the schedule for this year, and we’re on target.