NYPIRG, the New York Public Interest Research Group, has sent out a very useful summary of the current status of climate policy, which is posted below.
It’s part of a partnership with 1Sky, a national climate advocacy group, to fight for climate solutions. You can (and should!) get involved by signing up here.
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NYPIRG 1Sky Policy Update
November 10, 2009
This week was a big week for climate change legislation in the U.S. Senate. The Kerry-Boxer bill passed out of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee. In addition, Senators Kerry (D-MA), Graham (R-SC), and Lieberman (I-CT) announced that they will start working on a “dual track” climate bill with the help of the White House.
Please visit www.1sky.org/s1733 for a detailed analysis of the bill and graphs of the allocation distribution over time.
Kerry-Boxer Passed Out of EPW Committee
Chairwoman Boxer (D-CA) and ten other Democrats voted to pass the Kerry-Boxer bill out of the EPW last week.
Senators in opposition to the bill and action on climate generally boycotted the committee meeting altogether, citing the need for more detailed economic analysis of the bill. This is despite the fact that the US EPA had conducted a thorough economic analysis in the weeks leading up to EPW markup.
Despite the boycott, Boxer brought top officials to the committee meeting to answer questions about the financial impacts of the bill. The next day, EPW staff explained the pieces of the bill to committee members. Opposition members did not attend either meeting.
Senate rules prevent markup of a bill unless there are at least two members of the minority present. In the absence of the Republican minority members, Boxer passed the bill out of committee without amendment, which only requires a majority of members be present. Eleven of the twelve democrats on the committee voted in favor of passage; Senator Baucus (D-MT), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, voted against passage because in the absence of a markup, he was unable to address two of his major concerns: 2020 emissions reduction targets and agricultural issues.
Kerry-Graham-Lieberman “Dual Track”
On the same day that the EPW committee passed the Kerry-Boxer bill, Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) announced their intention to create a tri-partisan “dual track’ of climate negotiations. These negotiations will take place at the same time as do negotiations on the Boxer-Kerry bill. The goal of the new partnership is to find “a possible compromise climate change and energy legislative package that could win the support of 60 Senators and the White House.” See http://bit.ly/4nx2px. The new group met with top White House officials last week to discuss next steps moving forward. It is still unclear what impact the impact that these new negotiations will have on the prospects of passing a climate bill this year.
Clean Energy Partnerships Act of 2009
Last week, the Clean Energy Partnerships Act of 2009 was introduced by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) with co-sponsors Max Baucus (D-MT), Mark Begich (D-AK), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). The Act will create a domestic offsets program and provide funding for other domestic agriculture programs that reduce carbon emissions or enhance carbon sequestration in the agriculture and forestry sectors. This bill likely will be merged into the final Boxer-Kerry bill.
Senate Climate Bill Timing
Many Washington insiders have said that Congress may take up financial regulatory reform in the next couple of months, before considering clean energy legislation. Some view this as a setback and others have said that regulatory reform is a crucial step towards ensuring that any carbon market created under a cap and trade system are thoroughly monitored.
Copenhagen Update
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change met in Barcelona, Spain last week for the final round of negotiations before the much-anticipated Copenhagen COP15 meeting. Unfortunately, the negotiations are floundering somewhat with a growing divide between developed and developing nations over emissions reductions targets and finance for adaptation, reduced deforestation, clean technology transfer, to name a few.
In fact, the African Group, a bloc of African countries that negotiate together, threatened to boycott the talks until the developed nations (Annex I) put their short term emissions targets on the table.
Take Action Now!
With less than a month to go before a critical round of international climate talks in Copenhagen, President Obama must rise to the occasion and push for bold climate action at home and around the world. Our partners at the 1Sky Campaign have created an online petition at http://www.1sky.org/stepup to encourage the President to stand up for a strong bill in the U.S. Senate and a “FAB” (fair, ambitious and binding) treaty. Please sign the petition today at http://www.1sky.org/stepup and then spread the word to your friends!