Between the Lines: Draft Climate Bill

U.S. action on global warming took a step forward on March 31, with the release of the first draft of the Waxman-Markey climate bill. The nitty-gritty details of the bill will change, but its four "titles" -- meaning its core sections -- are likely to stay the same. NRDC experts discuss them below.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 . . . has four titles: (1) a "clean energy" title that promotes renewable sources of energy and carbon capture and sequestration technologies, low-carbon transportation fuels, clean electric vehicles, and the smart grid and electricity transmission; (2) an "energy efficiency" title that increases energy efficiency across all sectors of the economy, including buildings, appliances, transportation, and industry; (3) a "global warming" title that places limits on the emissions of heat-trapping pollutants; and (4) a "transitioning" title that protects U.S. consumers and industry and promotes green jobs during the transition to a clean energy economy.

Christine Luong: "Title four has provisions to buffer consumers from electricity price  increases and provide resources to help industry adapt to low- carbon operations.  The ACES act must work to the ultimate benefit of the whole nation, and the  transition title makes that possible."

Rick Duke: "Relative to a carbon tax, carbon caps offer greater assurance that we will reach emissions-reduction targets. Plus, investors benefit because carbon-trading markets offer long-term price projections based on the principles of supply and demand rather than unpredictable political decisions about future carbon tax rates."

David Doniger: "To prevent the worst effects of global warming, the Waxman-Markey bill sets a cap on carbon pollution, cuts emissions each year, and reaches at least an 80 percent reduction by 2050.  We have to start now. The longer we delay, the worse it will be."  

Ashok Gupta: "Saving energy is much cheaper than generating it. In the case of electricity, efficiency typically costs less than half of what it costs to generate and distribute. Scaling up to capture efficiency will also create thousands of jobs and reduce energy bills nationwide."