Earth Equity News

Climate Bill Will Create $150 Billion in New Assets Its First Year. By Marc Gunther, Fortune, May 15, 2008. "A climate-change bill that has widespread support as it heads to the Senate floor will create an estimated $150 billion of new assets in the first year it takes effect. Between now and 2050, regulating greenhouse gases could easily generate $3 trillion worth in value in the U.S. Should that value go to utility companies, electricity customers who will face rising rates, government investments in new technology or tax cuts? Or should it be returned to all Americans? That question is being debated vigorously by energy companies, politicians and environmental groups. Next week, an influential coalition of big companies and green organizations called the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (U.S. CAP)… will take [the issue] up [as Congress considers the climate change bill]... Essentially... John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, leading Democrats and moderate Republicans in Congress, dozens of Fortune 500 CEOs, and mainstream environmental groups all agree that a so-called cap-and-trade system to regulate greenhouse gases is needed... That, by itself, is remarkable... [But] ask where that money should go, and the consensus breaks down. Coal-burning utilities say they should be given the permits for free... Others, including candidates Obama and Clinton, say all the permits should be auctioned -- why reward the polluters, they ask? Still others want auctions so that proceeds can be used for a variety of causes, ranging from investments in renewable-energy... to middle-class tax cuts to paying down the federal debt... U.S. CAP is deeply divided over the issue."