A Big Deal for Climate Security and for Maine June 3
The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (S. 2191) is the most comprehensive global warming bill to reach the full U.S. Senate, and today, our senators will begin their debate over the legislation.
The bill proposes a “cap-and-trade” system to limit and reduce greenhouse pollutants. By creating a market for traded permits for emissions, the bill would create a financial incentive for industries and utilities to pollute less and become more efficient. In effect, the buyers of these credits would pay a charge for polluting, while the sellers would receive a reward for having reduced emissions. By slowly restricting the number of permits available, the government can steadily reduce the nation’s overall emissions, while also growing a new economic sector.
Any cap-and-trade scheme would carry big benefits for Maine, since we already produce the majority of our electricity from renewable hydro and, increasingly, wind power plants. If this bill passes and establishes a market for greenhouse gas credits, Maine utilities will have excess credits to sell on the market, and Maine’s electricity will become cheaper.
Partly for this reason, Maine’s senators have been champions for global warming legislation: Senator Collins is a co-sponsor of the Climate Security Act, and Senator Snowe has sponsored even stronger legislation.
It’s true that the bill falls short of the recommended reductions that the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says we need to make in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. It also contains enormous earmarks to “soften the blow” on fossil fuel industries (as a way to gain support from some senators who are on the fence).
But in spite of its flaws, the bill seems like a good first step. It also contains enormous potential to drive new R&D and renewable power investments in Maine.
The Lieberman-Warner bill would allocate billions of dollars from carbon credit auctions to research and development funding, energy efficiency initiatives, mass transit, and other energy-saving programs. The bill would also fund large tax credits to help low- and middle-income families cope with rising energy costs. These funds could help Maine households struggling with heating and transportation costs by jump-starting big investments in alternatives. Maine’s emerging green-tech sector also stands to gain from a huge infusion of R&D funding. And by reducing the portion of household budgets devoted to energy costs, the bill’s energy tax credits would also release a substantial amount of newly-disposable income into Maine’s economy.
The bill also rewards states like Maine that have already established carbon trading programs of their own. Maine and the other northeastern states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) would have access to more than $560 billion in free allowances over the next four decades if they choose to discontinue their own cap-and-trade programs in deference to a similar federal system that would be up and running in 2012.
For an in-depth analysis of the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, read this article from Grist.
For an assessment of the political climate surrounding this bill, read this post from the Wall Street Journal’s Environmental Capital Blog.