Jan

16

Waxman vows cap-and-trade passage while GOP vow fight

Filed Under US Carbon Cap and Trade 

In conjunction with USCAP’s presentation yesterday, Henry Waxman made some bold promises while ruffling the feathers of his GOP counterparts.  Bloomberg reports the following:

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman vowed to pass a pollution-reduction plan backed by environmentalists and the chief executives of General Electric Co. and Duke Energy Corp. Republicans promised a fight.

Waxman said he would seek a committee vote on legislation to limit carbon emissions before the Memorial Day recess in late May.

“That’s an ambitious schedule, but an achievable one,” said Waxman, a California Democrat, at a hearing today on the plan backed by 26 corporations and five environmental groups. Uncertainty about what pollution controls will be imposed is preventing companies from investing in facilities, he said. “Our job is to end this regulatory limbo.”

Republicans vowed to fight the cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions endorsed today by GE’s Jeffrey Immelt and Jim Rogers of Duke Energy, who appeared at the hearing.

“Be prepared for a battle,” Illinois Republican John Shimkus told Democrats on the panel. Shimkus called the plan “a shell game to hide the cost from the ultimate person who is going to pay.”

“Let’s develop a trading floor for U.S. emissions, and let’s let the big-money folks at Goldman Sachs control it,” Shimkus said. “Is that a good idea?”

Waxman held the hearing to coincide with the release of the pollution plan by the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of energy companies, manufacturers, and environmental groups that want to limit greenhouse-gas emissions and establish a carbon-trading system. The partnership proposed slashing emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases 42 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

A Fight

Today’s hearing sets the stage for a fight between lawmakers such as Waxman, who want to establish a trading system for carbon, and others, including many Republicans, who say a carbon tax would better reflect the costs of controlling greenhouse gases.

Representative Joe Barton of Texas, the committee’s top Republican, said a law limiting carbon emissions would add to the nation’s economic woes. He listed the year-over-year decline in the share prices of companies whose CEOs are testifying today.

Full article at Bloomberg