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In October 2007, Senator Lieberman (I-CT) and Senator Warner (R-VA) introduced climate change legislation before the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. In May 2008 California Senator Barbara Boxer introduced a substitute, S. 3036- America’s Climate Security Act -outlining a plan for massive changes to how industrial polluters manage and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Learn more While serious consideration of climate legislation is itself a sign of progress, the bill falls short of achieving the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emission reduction mandates and provides outrages giveaways to the fossil fuel industries that instigated the climate crisis and the already heavily subsidized nuclear industry. Public Citizen opposes the current bill unless it gets significantly strengthened by including a tougher emissions standard -80 percent carbon reductions by 2050- and a 100 percent auction on carbon credits- along the lines of the model legislation introduced by Rep. Markey (D-Mass). The funds collected from the auction should be directed toward financial assistance for taxpayers struggling with ever-increasing energy bills and provide financial subsidies to help households install solar panels, make eco-friendly improvements to their home and purchase super fuel efficient hybrid vehicles. Further, auction funds should be invested in programs to spur deployment of clean renewable energy. |