Currently legislators are debating the logistics of the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Various congressmen have proposed how pollution permits should be allocated. President Obama has already proposed a carbon emission tax but it was quickly shot down due to the negative stigma of tax increases. Obama’s other proposal of auctioning off permits and allowing trade of permits also hasn’t gained support. Henry Waxman and Edward Markey have created a plan that would give out 85% of the permits to firms and auction off the last 15% until 2030 when all permits would be auctioned off. This could prevent higher energy prices for consumers. This plan creates many issues though, since President Obama has planned for the pollution permit auction revenue in his budget. Another problem with the system is the way that permits are allocated, for instance oil companies only will get 2% of the permits although they value them more than most. The plan prevents permits from going to the firms that value them while an auctioning system would guarantee the most revenue from firms that need the permits the most. Waxman-Markey’s bill is the most popular proposal now yet it still needs more approval from environmentalists. Greenpeace currently refuses to back the bill until it promises to decrease pollution 20% below the 2005 level, though some moderate environmentalists support the ability of the bill to pass and suggest making it stronger in the future. Some Republicans snub the bill saying the changes would be negligible as long as China and India continue their levels of pollution. It is believed that if The United States does not have a Cap-and-Trade system in place by December’s global climate conference in Copenhagen, the chance of a global emission agreement will be fade. Until then Obama has settled on regulating the automotive industry by requiring mileage standards in order to reduce emissions.
Joseph Chadwick, Jonathan Jackson, James Petkovski
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