Rep. Markey To Introduce 'Sweeping' Climate Bill Today. By Bryan Bender, BGlobe, May 28, 2008. "Representative Edward J. Markey, the chairman of the special House committee on global warming, will unveil sweeping legislation today to cut greenhouse gas emissions and raise billions of dollars to create alternative sources of energy. [The most controversial part of] the bill -- the culmination of more than 40 hearings by Markey's committee... would be the so-called ['cap and invest'] plan under which major polluters would have to purchase licenses through a government auction... the proceeds [of which] -- estimated to be as much as $8 trillion between 2012 and 2050 -- would be 'recycled' to pay for the development of [renewable energy] technologies and to help offset... energy price [increases] for American consumers... [The bill] is likely to meet fierce resistance... The 400-page bill... would mandate that greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. be reduced to 15% of 2005 levels by 2050, while putting in place new environmental standards for coal mines, landfills, wastewater treatment plants, and large animal feeding operations... It would also provide financial incentives to farmers and forest managers to reduce their... emissions. Each year beginning in 2012, the EPA would auction off the pollution licenses to American industry... A small percentage of industries that are especially energy-intensive and face heavy international competition -- such as iron and steel, aluminum, cement, bulk glass, and paper -- would be exempt from the licenses until 2020, at which time they, too, would have to purchase the right to pollute."
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