Senator Maria Cantwell and Senator Olympia Snowe (R, Me) have introduced the Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal (CLEAR) Act, which offers an improved framework for pricing carbon and speeding the transition to clean energy. It is based on a simple, transparent and equitable “cap and refund” alternative to “cap and trade”. For a copy of the bill, summaries, comparison with the House-passed Waxman-Markey bill (H.R. 2454) and other information, go to http://cantwell.senate.gov/issues/CLEARAct.cfm.
Citizens Climate Lobby volunteers recently met with Sen. Cantwell’s staff in Seattle and learned that this is a good time to consider an alternative approach such as the Cantwell bill. The cap and trade bill introduced by Sen Kerry and Sen Barbara Boxer, which is similar to the Waxman-Markey bill, is dead due to solid Republican opposition.
The CLEAR Act is based on fixing the amount of fossil carbon entering the U.S. economy each year and auctioning permits for shares of that carbon, rather than trying to control the quantity of emissions. The total quantity of carbon allowed to be imported or produced would decrease each year. (Less carbon in, less emissions out.) Only 2000-3000 entities (importers and producers) would be eligible to bid on permits each month, making regulation much more manageable than attempting to regulate hundreds of thousands of downstream carbon emitters.
The CLEAR Act, now before the Senate Finance Committee, is superior to the cap and trade approach in several important respects.
- All the carbon permits are sold. None are given away.
- 75% of the revenue from the sale of permits is returned to all U.S. citizens on an equal per capita basis which will offset higher energy costs.
- Unlike cap and trade, this approach does not create a carbon market for Wall Street speculators (no derivatives).
- Polluters are not allowed to emit more CO2 by purchasing dubious carbon offsets.
Sen. Cantwell’s staff spent months drafting the CLEAR Act, meeting with many stakeholders across the country, and said they found support for their approach from both Democrats and Republicans and a number of stakeholders including energy companies.
The CLEAR Act is straightforward, 75% of revenue would be distributed equally among all citizens, and the remaining 25% used for investments in clean energy. Also, there are no giveaways, no speculative trading, and no offsets. We urge you find out more about the growing support for an alternative to cap and trade, and consider joining us in supporting Sen. Cantwell's CLEAR Act.
Check out the info on the Carbon Tax Center's website, www.carbontax.org, including a recent article by Charles Komanoff which is quite favorable to the CLEAR Act. He notes that “the Cantwell-Collins CLEAR Act is a milestone: the first bipartisan legislation that seeks to guarantee return of most revenues to American families and to limit speculative permit trading.”
http://www.carbontax.org/blogarchives/2009/12/11/bipartisan-senate-bill-could-breathe-fresh-air-into-climate-debate/
Anne Engstrom PCO 36- 2120
Citizen's Climate Lobby, Seattle
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