The House Must Act Now on Cap-and-Trade Legislation

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this week that she has enough votes to pass cap-and-trade legislation aimed at curbing the effects of global warming, but would not commit to holding a vote in 2009. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Pelosi said she has backing in the Democratic-controlled House to move a cap-and-trade bill, but will not force the issue. When Congressman Ed Markey, since identified as the new Chairman of the new Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment in the Energy and Commerce Committee, was approached on timing, he said "to be determined."

People close to Pelosi and Markey told me not to read too much into the remarks -- they said the stimulus is the priority now, and Congress is waiting for the nod from the incoming President on timing. But as Speaker Pelosi and Representative Markey know better than most, we need leadership now! It will never be easy. If we wait, passing legislation that will solve our climate and energy problems will only get harder. Solving the greatest threat to the planet must be the priority. The time is now. We need to push bold solutions and cannot compromise before Congress has even started doing anything to try to repower, refuel and rebuild. We have a committed president-elect with brilliant climate advisors. We have a House leader with a history of commitment to this issue from a district that is well educated on global warming's dangers.

In addition to bold action by Speaker Pelosi, we are urging House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to take the lead in 2009 on a climate bill. 1Sky has over 350 organizational allies nationwide, will be funding 25 organizers spanning twenty states this year, and has already recruited voluntary Climate Precinct Captains in over 150 Congressional districts. We are amassing ground troops. We're ready. We need Congress to lead. This is never going to be an easy lift. But it needs to be done now. We have decades of polluting to make up for and no time to lose -- with catastrophic impacts looming and a clean, green economy to embrace in the face of our worst recession in decades.

Meanwhile, Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member and fossil fuel fan Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) was quoted on Monday as saying that the folks who want us dependent on oil and coal forever think the momentum is on their side. Let's prove them wrong. Sign up to become a Climate Precinct Captain now!

Comments

[Cacaoatl]

Cap and trade programs won't fix a damn thing. They just make the polluters feel better about polluting. The real solution is to roll up our sleeves and come up with a real alternative to fossil fuels. In the meantime, on an individual level, we each must make adjustments to our lifestyles such as taking public transportation, walking or riding our bikes, recycling and buying recycled products,using re-usable shopping bags, cutting our showers, and myriad other small changes that add up to a lot.

[joebhed]

Cap and Trade.
Turn the money that we need to fight the global carbon dissolution of the planet over to international financial markets.
Yeah, Gillian, that'll do it.
They're on our side, for sure.

How about a carbon tax?
Straight up.
Not one of those Hanson-Gore tax-a-rebates.
A real carbon tax.
You know, the kind that the Congressional Budget Office has studied and found would get us to our carbon sustainability goals cheaper and faster than the C&T.
How about that?

Enviros have lost track of how we got to the C&T solution.
Back when acid rain and SOX and NOX were the threat, we successfully used C&T to force the utilities to make a choice.
But, they had a choice to make.
The solution was on the shelf.
They could buy right into it.

Today most folks agree that we are about a generation away from having the technological solutions to deal with carbon.
Cap and Trade is being sold as the only policy available to "guarantee" that caps are met.
NOT !
For consumers, it will be cap-and-pay.
Deregulation redux.
The pollution permits will be on the market, sold at ever-increasing premiums.
We need a flexible and manageable public policy on carbon balancing.
C&T ain't it.
With all due respect.

[DavidJames]

Carbon dioxide emission fees of $100 to $200 per ton are the key. With flat rebates, they are the preferred mechanism for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Compared to the cap and trade schemes, carbon dioxide emission fees are simple to implement and hard to game.

[Semaj51]

Carbon cap and trade -- another great idea to make some people very rich, but does little to actually reduce the abount of carbon polution.