MORE NEWS, 5-18 (450 GOP AMENDMENTS TO STOP ENERGY BILL; CAP&TRADE BILL W/85% FREE ALLOWANCES; REFINERS LIKE CAP&TRADE W/FREE ALLOWANCES)

450 GOP AMENDMENTS TO STOP ENERGY BILL
GOP plans 450 climate bill changes
Lisa Lerer, May 15, 2009 (Politico)
GOP plans 450 climate bill changes
Lisa Lerer, May 15, 2009 (Politico)

"Republicans in the House Energy and Commerce committee are considering introducing about 450 amendments during the mark-up of climate change legislation next week…Many of the potential amendments would lower the environmental standards…[or] make it more difficult for Democrats to vote to support it…The committee is scheduled to spend all next week marking-up the climate and energy bill sponsored by Reps. Henry Waxman, (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey, (D-Mass.)

"Waxman, the chairman of the committee, has spent months negotiating a deal with southern and Midwestern Democrats who fear the new regulations capping greenhouse gases could hurt businesses and consumers at homes. On Thursday, Virginia Rep. Rich Boucher – who’s acted as a lead negotiator for skeptical Democrats – endorsed the bill, a signal that it could have enough support to pass the committee."

Know going in: This is the misinformation from the dark side. Studies show it does not HAVE to cost excessively but the bill's opponents are doing everything they can to see that it does. From RepMarshaBlackburn via YouTube.

"But Republicans plan to wage a fierce fight for wavering Democrats. They plan to introduce amendments covering a huge swath of issues from lowering the emissions targets and renewable electricity standard included in the bill to making the controversial Yucca Mountain in Nevada a storage facility for carbon capture and sequestration waste.

"Texas Rep. Joe Barton, the highest ranking Republican on the committee, announced an alternative energy bill on Thursday— a proposal Republicans expect will be swiftly voted down by the committee. After that, they plan to start introducing the hundreds of amendments."

From RepJoeBarton via YouTube.

"Several amendments targeted at expanding coal, oil refineries, and nuclear production specifically target skeptical southern Democrats. [A]mendments…focused on economic recovery in the Rust Belt could be tough votes for worried Midwestern Democrats…[A] series of state-specific proposals [are] targeted at making lawmakers take tough votes against their home districts…[Other amendments] suspend the law if more than 1,000 jobs are lost… make the allowances required under a cap-and-trade program totally free for the utility companies…eliminate tax benefits for energy and manufacturing companies…mandate intense reporting requirements, force congressional reauthorization every two years, and limit lawsuits.

"Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Wamxan can decide to proceed to a vote at any point in the mark-up hearing, a move that would cut off Republican amendments."


CAP&TRADE BILL W/85% FREE ALLOWANCES
Panel Adds Free Permits To CO2 Bill
Ian Talley, May 16, 2009 (Wall Street Journal)

"The latest version of the House Democratic leadership's climate bill would give away for free up to 85% of the pollution permits created to launch a proposed system to cap greenhouse-gas emissions…a part of the multibillion-dollar price paid by California Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to win support from moderates in his own party for the sweeping bill.

"The measure would force businesses to acquire permits to emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Those permits, which could be sold, would have value because the overall quantity of industrial greenhouse-gas emissions would be capped."

From NationalWildlife via YouTube.

"The compromise would allow certain industries to avoid paying for greenhouse-gas permits over the next two decades. President Barack Obama and Mr. Waxman had originally pushed for all the emission permits to be auctioned, which would have generated $624 billion over 10 years…to fund Mr. Obama's middle-class tax cuts and research on clean-energy technology.

"Some environmental groups… were concerned that the level of free credits would weaken industry incentives to cut emissions and reduce benefits to consumers to cushion energy and product-cost increases…The oil industry…was concerned that only a fraction of the free allocations would go to the transportation sector, which accounts for about a third of total U.S. emissions…"

With 85% free allowances in the early years, this cap&trade system will require time to become equitable. (click to enlarge)

"… 35% of the credits will be allocated to the power industry. Energy-intensive industries, such as the cement, glass and paper manufacturing sectors, will get 15% of the free permits. An additional 9% would go to the natural-gas sector, 2% to oil refiners and 1.5% to users of heating oil. Most of those emission allocations will phase out between 2026 and 2030.

"The auto industry would get 3% of the free credits up to 2017, for investments in clean-vehicle technology. The remaining free allocations, about 10%, would be divided among the carbon-capture and storage industry, clean-energy research and development, deforestation-prevention projects, and help for other countries to adapt to climate changes."


REFINERS LIKE CAP&TRADE W/FREE ALLOWANCES
Refiners would get a break in climate change bill; Along with San Antonio Democrat, Houston Congressman Green helped pave the way to deal allowing free greenhouse gas permits
Jennifer A. Dlouhy, May 15, 2009 (Houston Chronicle)

"Climate change legislation moving through Congress would give refiners free permits to emit greenhouse gases under a compromise engineered by [Rep. Gene Green (D-Tex) and Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-Tex), congressmen to districts with petrochemical plants and oil refiners]...

"The two lawmakers got the deal added to a [top priority] climate change bill agreed to by most Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and backed by the measure’s two sponsors, Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Ed Markey, D-Mass…[The bill] which the Energy and Commerce Committee is slated to consider next week, would cap carbon dioxide emissions at 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050."

click to enlarge

"Green and Gonzalez also scored a major concession sought by oil companies when committee leaders scrapped a proposal that would impose steadily stiffer limits on transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions — and make the industry pay for allowances to cover the excess pollutants released when their fuel is burned.

"Oil company executives had warned lawmakers that much of the costs of covering motorists’ fuel emissions and the additional internal compliance work would have been passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices at the pump…

"Power plants, refiners, manufacturers and other operations could exceed the limits by buying and exchanging emissions allowances on a new carbon-trading market."

click to enlarge

"To defray costs for some polluting industries, Waxman and Markey agreed to give away more than half of those allowances in the early years of the so-called “cap-and-trade” plan…Eventually, companies would be weaned off the free allowances and would then have to buy the permits from the federal government at auction.

"Under the deal with Green and Gonzalez, refiners would get 2 percent of the free allowances starting in 2014 and ending in 2026…[It was ] attacked by both oil industry leaders, who said it wouldn’t offer enough economic protection, and environmentalists, who complained it was an unnecessary giveaway…"