Corker ‘leaning’ toward cap-and-trade bill
Posted on July 31st, 2007By Darren Samuelsohn
E&E News: Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) may have become the latest convert to support efforts to adopt a mandatory cap-and-trade bill to deal with global warming.
A day after returning from Greenland with nine other senators, Corker told local reporters yesterday he is “leaning” toward supporting legislation that would set mandatory limits on heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
“If [scientists] are right, we develop a policy that is right,” Corker said yesterday, according to remarks reported by the Associated Press. “And even if for whatever reason this body of thought that scientists have on climate change is wrong over time, we have an ability to put in place policies for our country that make us energy-secure.”
Corker did not endorse any specific bill, though the Tennessee Republican told E&E Daily in June he was considering a cap-and-trade proposal from Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). Earlier in the spring, Corker traveled with Bingaman, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, to Europe to meet with government and industry officials who work on the continent’s emerging carbon market.
Corker did not sign on as an original cosponsor when Bingaman, Specter and four other senators introduced their bill earlier this month, and he could be weighing legislation from his fellow home state Republican, Sen. Lamar Alexander. The Alexander bill would cap carbon emissions and other conventional air pollutants from electric utilities.
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) also joined the weekend congressional delegation to Greenland but showed less interest in converting to cap-and-trade legislation.
“Senator Isakson believes it’s premature to start talking about any carbon cap proposal since we have not fully addressed the development of all renewable resources, especially nuclear and cellulose-based ethanol,” Isakson spokeswoman Joan Kirchner said yesterday.
Isakson’s office also released a statement that noted climate change “is natural and has occurred before.”
Isakson added, “The question is: To what extent is carbon accelerating the changes? The answer to that question is: No one knows for sure.”
Lieberman-Warner plan expected Thursday
The Greenland trip comes as Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.) head into the final week of behind-the-scenes talks on a cap-and-trade plan that would set up economy-wide limits on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said she expected the senators to release a discussion draft Thursday.
Many firm details of the draft legislation remain under wraps, though Lieberman and Warner have promised a plan to cut emissions between 60 percent and 80 percent by midcentury.
Boxer said yesterday she would try to move cap-and-trade legislation out of her committee before the end of the year. She also said she plans a full committee hearing in September on the five different economy-wide bills so far introduced in Congress.
Several lawmakers with their own unique plans are pressing Lieberman and Warner to include their ideas in the draft plan.
For example, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the lead cosponsor on a bill that caps electric utility emissions only, sent a letter yesterday to try to sell the best parts of his approach. Carper said his legislation “provides an aggressive, yet achievable, schedule for power plants to reduce emissions and alleviate some of our worst air-related health and environmental problems, such as ozone, acid rain, mercury contamination and of course global warming.”
Nine cosponsors joined Carper’s letter, which concluded, “We believe the principles of this legislation fit perfectly within the framework of a comprehensive, economy-wide global warming bill and encourage you to include them in your approach.”
Also signing the letter: Sens. John Sununu (R-N.H.), Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Joe Biden (D-Del.).
Casey joined the Carper bill as a cosponsor two weeks ago. The freshman stands out because he previously had not indicated which legislative approach he would support for dealing with global warming. Schumer and Biden, a candidate for the White House in 2008, added their names before the Fourth of July recess.
Click here for the letter from Carper and the nine other cosponsors.