U S Senators are expected to debate global warming legislation on Monday. The Climate Security Act aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and set up a national cap and trade system for polluters.
New Hampshire’s Senators have not yet said how they might vote on the legislation – but both have major concerns with it.
As New Hampshire Public Radio’s Amy Quinton reports, the legislation may be the biggest and most complex the Senate will take up this year.
The Climate Security Act is being called landmark legislation and the most potentially effective global warming bill the United States congress has ever considered.
Others say it could be the most extensive government reorganization of the economy since the 1930’s.
(this is probably as big an issue from the standpoint of domestic policy certainly we’ll deal with in this Congress and maybe even the next Congress because both the consequences that we know of and the unintended consequences are going to be massive)
That’s Senator Judd Gregg, who hasn’t yet decided how he’ll vote on the legislation sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman and Jon Warner.
The goal of the bill is to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by 60-percent below 2005 levels by 2050.
It would establish a cap and trade system in which greenhouse gas producers –from power plants to heavy industry – would be required to have a permit or allowance for every ton of carbon dioxide they produce.
Allowances would be auctioned by the EPA – which according to one government study could generate one point one trillion dollars over the next decade.
But opponents of the bill, led by the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and oil producers say it would be disastrous for the economy.
U-S Chamber of Commerce’s Bill Kovacs calls the bill a cap and tax system.
“1:08 it’s literally a three point three trillion dollar tax on the power industry and the manufacturing industry and anyone who generates co2”
Kovacs says the bill could reduce national economic output by as much as 669-billion dollars a year and result in four million job losses.
He says the bill caps fossil fuels without enough alternative energy sources to replace it, and sets the economy into a tailspin.
(they are dead wrong this is a properly fashioned climate bill and is a major business opportunity for America.)
That’s Jim Rubens, a consultant with the Union of Concerned Scientists.
He says technologies are available now, especially here in New Hampshire.
6:51 we can replace this fossil fuel dependency we have with home grown development of our really abundant wind, biomass, geothermal and entrepreneurial resources, we can produce energy here in NH instead of imported oil and you get remarkable benefits.
He says nine and a half percent of the gross state product is spent on imported petroleum products.
While he supports the Climate Security Act, he says lawmakers could do more to cut greenhouse gases.
“1:38 scientists tell us if we want to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change, we need to cut US emissions by 80-percent by the year 2050 that keeps global temperatures so that they will be no warmer than they’ve been on the earth over the past two million years”
He and other New Hampshire businesses joined forces recently to lobby Senators John Sununu and Judd Gregg to support the legislation.
So far, Senator Sununu has said he will vote to bring the bill to the floor, but still has a few concerns.
1:09 first I’d like to see a bill deal with other emissions in addition to co2 and second as always with a piece of regulatory legislation, the cost..we need to be honest in accessing the cost and the impact and look at different ways to minimize the impact on consumers and NH’s economy.
Senator Judd Gregg says his inclination is to support climate change legislation as he did the Lieberman McCain climate bill in 2003.
The Climate Security Act is unlikely to become law this year as President Bush opposes it.
But the Senate debate may offer clues for how the U-S will act toward climate change in the future.
For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.
