U.S. Senate Climate Bill will be Introduced September 30th

Sens. Boxer and Kerry at a climate rally in June.Photo: David Pierpont, NWF via Flickr

A few nights ago at Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum, Teresa Heinz read a message from her husband, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), that set the gala crowd to cheering:  He and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) will introduce a climate bill in the Senate next Wednesday.

The bill will be backed by a strong and broad coalition, according to Kerry’s message, which Heinz delivered at a pre-G20 party sponsored by the U.S. Climate Action Network, and “will take a more comprehensive approach to dwindling oil reserves than any prior legislation.”

The legislation will be a “thoughtful, innovative, far-reaching solution” in four areas: the nation’s energy foundation; U.S. economic competitiveness; the health of the environment; and national security.*  (see Friends of the Earth‘s comments on this below)

. . . . an upbeat Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) encouraged the crowd to stay optimistic about the prospects for a good international climate treaty to come out of December’s negotiations in Copenhagen.  “We need to get the Senate to act,” said Doyle, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which produced the energy and climate bill that the House passed in June.   “Let’s give President Obama some arrows in his quiver to take to Copenhagen,” Doyle said, suggesting that the Pittsburgh crowd remember to call Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) in the coming weeks and ask him to support the upcoming climate bill.

Cross-posted from Change.org.  “Arrows in his quiver”?  Obama will need a lot more than some arrows for the biggest climate change meeting in history with the highest expectations and the future of civilization riding on it.

According to a Friends of the Earth mailing that I got today, they are anything but happy about the  current version of the bill.  We don’t know exactly what the Senate’s version will be yet, but it’s bound to be weakened, especially with Senators like Joe Lieberman trying to add more money for coal to the bill!  From FOE:

“We are at an historic crossroads.  The direction we choose now could make all the difference in the fight for the future of our planet. . . . . But right now there are many pushing us down the road to catastrophe.  Just a few weeks ago, the U.S. House passed major climate and energy legislation for the first time ever — House Bill 2454, more commonly known as the Waxman-Markey Bill.  Many of our colleagues rejoiced at the House vote.  But there was no celebration at FOE.  You see, the bill is so corrupted by polluting special interests — huge oil and coal companies, as well as corporate agribusiness and Wall Street giants — that it could actually do more harm than good.

As it stands, the current version of the bill doesn’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough, guts the EPA’s authority to fight global warming, and contains massive giveaways to polluting industries.  Frankly, it’s a travesty of an environmental bill!”

I have to agree with that, but there is still time to pressure the Congress to change the bill and strengthen it.   Most, but not all, environmental groups are trying to get this bill passed or strengthened before December.

Some feel carbon markets are the exact wrong approach to begin with and would have built-in volatility and other problems.  Do we want to create more derivatives markets and default swaps and those types of financial instruments?  I think with an enormous, global cap and trade system we will see new financial instruments and more fraud than we ever dreamed of.