Congressional panel advances climate-aid bill; could affect SWVa. coal industry

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 33-25 to pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, which creates a national “cap-and-trade” program that allows industries to buy, sell and trade the ability to produce carbon dioxide and other emissions within a set cap that will decrease over time.

The legislation is designed to counter global warming by capping and gradually reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced in the United States. The legislation would create a cap-and-trade system: Over the next decades, power plants, oil refineries and manufacturers would be required to obtain allowances for the pollution they emit. Those who need more or less could turn to a Wall Street-like market in the allowances.

Only a small segment of businesses would have to buy pollution allowances, but because the United States depends heavily on fossil fuels, the new costs would probably be spread through much of the economy.

U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, was a crucial player in the negotiations that led to the bill’s passage from the committee. Boucher said he worked closely with committee chairman and bill sponsor Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to include provisions that Boucher said will protect the coal industry and electricity consumers as Congress seeks to gradually limit carbon emissions.

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But while Boucher’s work may win him applause from certain sectors, it’s also drawn criticism from those who believe any restrictions on carbon emissions will cripple the coal industry.

The National Republican Congressional Committee issued a series of news releases this week chiding Boucher on issues related to the bill. One release was titled “Rick Boucher to Let Electricity Rates Skyrocket.” Another was “Rick Boucher Won’t Blink at 15% Unemployment.”

The legislation is still scheduled to be considered by eight more House committees. One of those committees is House Agriculture, where U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, will get his shot at the bill.

Goodlatte said Waxman’s cap-and-trade system is “byzantine” and overly complex, with long-reaching implications for “American competitiveness, cost of living, stand of living, cost of energy to consumers, cost of businesses and farmers and so on.”

Goodlatte said he appreciates Boucher’s work but that the bill’s overall objective is to “force a pretty dramatic transfer of the way we get energy in this country in directions that are largely unproven, are very expensive, and are in no position anytime anywhere in the near future to replace the current sources of energy that we have.”

If it passes the full House, the bill must still go to the Senate, which has shot down previous cap-and-trade proposals.

Read the entire article here: http://www.roanoke.com/politics/wb/205626