WASHINGTON — The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unveiled its version of climate-change legislation Wednesday, a sweeping bill that in key respects is even tougher than a version that narrowly passed the House this spring.
Sponsored by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and committee chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the bill would require the country to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, a deeper cut than the 17 percent required by the House.
But it includes some sweeteners for Republicans and moderate Democrats: The bill would limit the amount a company would pay for each ton of carbon it produces to $28, a provision sought by industry; and there are incentives for new nuclear power-plant construction sought by the GOP.
In many respects, it was the opening gambit in what is likely to be a fierce legislative battle with an uncertain outcome. Indeed, there were signs everywhere during the bill’s unveiling that Democrats are bracing for an uphill fight.
At a news conference on the Senate lawn, a phalanx of senators emphasized the bill’s job creation and benefits to national security. Although the legislation’s main purpose is to address global warming, many of the lawmakers passed over that theme altogether, effectively conceding the difficulty of selling sweeping changes in the way America’s energy is produced and consumed while unemployment hovers near 10 percent.
“We’re well-established at our base camp. We may not know our exact route up the mountain. We’re going to have storms. We’re going to have to hunker down and climb through some of those storms,” Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said at the unveiling, conceding the legislation’s uphill path.
“The only way home on this climb we’re on now is up and over the top of the mountain,” he said. (Though not on the environment committee, Udall is involved in the Senate climate-change negotiations and part of the Democrats’ whip team.)
Later in the afternoon, Republicans held their own news conference, lining up eight senators who roundly criticized the bill as likely to raise costs to energy consumers — a de facto tax — and send jobs overseas.
The committee’s bill leaves several key questions unanswered, signaling that lawmakers consider it a rough draft and leaving some difficult negotiations ahead.
It is less specific than the House bill on how the government might issue emission credits that would reduce the cost to transportation, agriculture and other sectors.
With difficult negotiations on health care reform and financial regulatory reform still to come, Democrats said it is very unlikely that the bill will make it to the Senate floor this year, a setback for the Obama administration. The president had hoped to have climate legislation passed before international climate treaty talks in Copenhagen in December.
Michael Riley: 303-954-1614 or mriley@denverpost.com
