Power for
America: Analyzing provisions in the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill
The week 9 assignment addresses the American
Power Act proposed by Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman.
The proposed measure would substantially reduce greenhouse gas
emissions (by over 80% by 2050.) Please read the assignment pdf
file carefully and write a brief (250 words or less) statement in
response to the questions posed in the pdf.
24 May update:
One student e-mailed asking for clarification about the meaning
of "components of the power industry" and about the interpretation of
"historic usage". Perhaps the assignment should have said "which sectors
of the electric power industry"? Examples could be nuclear, wind,
natural gas, solar, etc. Historic usage refers to the emissions history
of a particular power plant (or perhaps particular energy company, so
SDG&E for San Diego, for example, with the current mix of energy sources).
Of course if you read all of the nearly 1000 pages of the bill, you'll find
clear definitions, but
keep in mind that the bill is newly proposed, so some of the details will
be probably be revised extensive before Congress votes (if indeed they ever
vote) on the measure.
The bill has a range of provisions beyond those discussed in the
assignment handout. For discussion section you might want to
consider the relative merits of the numerous provisions. Which of
the provisions do you think are most important for achieving the
desired 80+% greenhouse gas emission reductions? Among the
provisions:
Two-thirds of revenues generated by selling emissions permits are
returned directly to consumers to help people who would suffer
disproportionately under the proposed legislation.
For transportation, petroleum refiners will have to purchase
emissions permits, at a fixed price determined based on the market
price determined in the auction used for other sectors of the economy.
The bill includes an open secondary market. That means that
you personally can buy as many permits you want (or as many as you can
afford), and out of altruism for the planet, you can choose not to use
them. Or you can bank the permits indefinitely, saving them for a
rainy day.
The bill includes subsidies for nuclear power.
Incentives are offered for expanded use of coal (with carbon
capture and sequestration) and natural gas.
States that choose to allow offshore drilling will receive 37.5%
federal revenues returned to the state. States also have the
right to veto offshore drilling in their waters.
Farmers are exempt from carbon emission requirements laid out in
the bill, and the bill includes a provision to pay farmers and other
landowners for activities that sequester carbon or reduce emissions on
their land.
Here are links to a number of articles that have attempted to summarize
the contents of the bill and analyze the likely impact:
I especially like Andrew Revkin's blog comments. He wrote, "Will
it succeed? That depends on your definition of
success, of course. The text and summaries circulating on the Web show
that the bill contains plenty of mechanisms — some dubious — aimed at
easing the path toward achieving the 2020 target of a 17-percent
reduction in emissions from 2005 levels."
Of course there are numerous other commentaries. We encourage you
to keep reading.