LEGISLATING FOR A NEW CLIMATE

The United States needs greenhouse gas reduction legislation that (1) reduces atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million, the level scientists say is necessary to avoid runaway global warming; (2) works with existing environmental laws — especially the Clean Air Act — instead of overriding their scientific mandates; (3) is free of loopholes allowing polluters to delay or avoid reducing their greenhouse gas emissions; and (4) doesn't encourage habitat destruction and increased greenhouse gas emission through perverse subsidies.

Unfortunately, neither the House of Representatives bill nor the Senate bill passes these tests. They must be significantly strengthened if we are to reduce greenhouse gases deep enough and fast enough to avert a climate catastrophe that will unleash unprecedented harm on planetary life support.

THE CLEAN ENERGY JOBS AND AMERICAN POWER ACT

On September 30, 2009, the Senate climate bill — the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act — was introduced by senators John Kerry, D-Mass., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.  The good news was that the Senate listened to tens of thousands of activists, many led by the Center, who demanded that the Clean Air Act exemption included in the House bill be stripped from the Senate version. 

The bad news is that after markup by the Environment and Public Works Committee, the bill now bans the Environmental Protection Agency from fulfilling its longstanding duty under the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse pollutants based on scientific standards. This is not a time to cheer. The fossil-fuel industry has received what it wants and will now seek more.

And more bad news is that the Senate bill won’t cut carbon dioxide emissions deeply enough or fast enough to prevent runaway global warming. The bill requires only a 20-percent reduction in carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 2020, while climate science shows that we need to slash emissions by 45 percent or more of 1990 levels by 2020 to have any chance of ratcheting back atmospheric CO₂ to 350 parts per million. Stopping global warming requires we bring the CO₂ level back down to the 350 ppm safety zone.

THE AMERICAN CLEAN ENERGY AND SECURITY ACT

The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) was authored by Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Edward Markey, D-Mass. It was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on June 26, 2009. ACES set woefully low emissions reduction targets and would gut EPA’s authority to curb greenhouse gas pollution under one of our nation’s most successful environmental laws, the Clean Air Act.

ACES would establish a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade system, along with complementary measures also meant to reduce emissions. This cap-and-trade program would give away 85 percent of allowances for free and auction off 15 percent. If fully implemented, it would reduce U.S. greenhouse gas pollution to an estimated 17 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 71 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 — targets that would fall short of leveling off total greenhouse gas concentrations even at 450 ppm CO₂eq. Leading climate scientists say we must limit CO₂ levels to 350 parts per million. 

ACES met with heavy criticism from conservationists and clean-energy advocates for its inadequate greenhouse pollution reductions, its rollbacks of the Clean Air Act, and its use of “offsets” and other loopholes that would allow polluters to escape real emissions reductions. The Government Accountability Office states that it’s virtually impossible to verify whether carbon offsets represent real emissions reductions.

ACES is supported by a long list of corporations, including Shell Oil, Duke Energy, Pacific Gas and Electric, Dow Chemicals, and Ford.

OUR LEGISLATIVE CAMPAIGN

From the beginning, the Center has been advocating to ensure the climate bill is substantive and powerful; we continue to push for it to become strong enough to stave off climate disaster as it moves through the Senate. We’ve led organizations and individuals across the country in speaking out about the bill. So far, we’ve garnered more than 46,000 signatures on our petition supporting a substantially stronger bill, sent a letter to the Senate signed by nearly 400 organizations, coordinated personal deliveries of that letter to Senate district offices across the country, and participated in 350.org’s global day of action through our 350 Reasons We Need to Get to 350 project. Our fact sheets, reports, and bill analyses are updated frequently for activists around the country as the legislative battle progresses.