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Senator suggests power-plant specific approach to energy bill
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The oil spill has focused the nation’s attention on the environment and brought a renewed sense of urgency to Congress to pass an energy and climate change bill before the November elections.
While debate on the bill continues on Capitol Hill, details have emerged concerning a plan by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman to cap greenhouse gas emissions, Politico.com reports.
The 50-page draft obtained by the site suggests that Senator Bingaman supports an approach focusing on regulating power plants first. These plants produce about one-third of the nation’s yearly emissions. The Bingaman legislation would require that current carbon dioxide emissions from electric utilities be capped at 17 percent by 2020 and 42 percent by 2030.
Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman have proposed a similar piece of power plant-specific legislation. Yet many Republicans, such as Senator Dick Lugar, remain unconvinced.
"A bill I’d support will not have a carbon cap or trade, or a carbon tax, or carbon pricing or any way you want to phrase it," he told Politico. However, leading Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that power-plant specific regulation sounded like "a pretty reasonable place to start."
Senate Democrats are still searching for a climate plan that would be able to win the 60-vote supermajority. Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and 14 other members of the Democratic leadership met with President Barack Obama at the White House to review the climate and energy bill, the site reports.
Recently, Senator Kerry warned that the utility-only energy bill may be usurped by additional pressures such as the upcoming November elections. He added that the Senate has "very little time" left to debate and pass legislation, Bloomberg reports.
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