As the House debate proceeds, members of Congress are making some startling and downright incorrect claims on the floor. Our Truth Squad blog is lobbing back the truth. Visit for gems of responses, including:
Climate 411
Truth Squad: Calling Out Bogus Claims One By One
Posted in Climate Change Legislation Comments are closed
Fact Checking: They Still Have It Wrong
With the House set to vote today on the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the misinformation from the bill’s opponents is flying fast. Our staff economists have been working furiously to circulate the facts:
- Grade: F. Dr. Nat Keohane pulled out his professor pen again to mark up a Heritage Foundation fact sheet.
- It only takes a dime a day. Opponents of action have been trying to scare voters with inflated and misleading accounts of how this bill will affect consumers’ daily expenses. However, the two most independent and credible analyses project much lower costs.
- Draconian assumptions. One tactic opponents use to get such inflated cost estimates is to make assumptions that ignore policy provisions and impose artificial constraints. This paper breaks it down.
When floor debate starts later today, the policy and economics specialists here at EDF will be hard at work correcting misstatements. Stay tuned here to see the facts.
Also posted in Economics Read 2 Responses
Why This Is the Pivotal Climate Vote of Our Lives
We are 24 hours away from the most important climate vote of our lives. Everything hangs in the balance.
Either the House passes the American Clean Energy and Security Act and we carry momentum to the Senate. Or, we lose the vote and in all probability any chance of confronting the devastating threats of run-away global warming for the foreseeable future.
In recent weeks, we’ve asked our Action Network to keep the pressure on for passing this landmark bill. In response, our inbox has been flooded with comments and questions about this bill and the urgency for action.
We’ve tried to respond to each question individually but thought at this critical moment it would be helpful to explain why we are working so hard to pass this bill and why now is so important.
Why this bill, and why now?
Our vigorous effort to pass the landmark American Clean Energy and Security Act is based on a number of factors, including:
- It is a strong bill that will put America on course to cutting global warming emissions by 83% by mid-century. This, along with cuts in other countries, is in the range of what scientists suggest is necessary to stave off the catastrophic threats of run-away global warming.
- It has broad support from labor, environmental, and community groups, as well as valuable support from the business community and even many electric utilities and energy companies. In order to pass a bill of this magnitude, this broad support is essential.
- It uses a proven policy approach — cap-and-trade — that sets a declining cap on global warming pollution and creates a market that rewards innovation to clean-energy technologies. This same approach has dramatically reduced acid rain pollution at a fraction of the estimated costs.
- Now is the time. Political momentum has built over many years to bring us to this moment in history, and we cannot squander it. Key political leaders from President Obama to Speaker Pelosi to Reps Waxman and Markey are engaged as never before on passing a good bill right now. If we lose the vote in spite of the political firepower devoted to this, it will set back our efforts for many years, which would be disastrous for the climate. Once lost, political momentum doesn’t easily regenerate.
Some of our online members and activists wonder whether we should be pushing for an even stronger bill or, short of that, whether we’d be better off allowing the EPA to regulate global warming pollution.
Keep the following in mind:
- EPA has not yet established global warming regulations and it is not yet clear how they would approach the issue.
- It could take years and many court battles before EPA regulations are set.
- Nor is it clear how regulations would be handled over time with changing administrations.
- The bill would replace EPA regulations with a clear policy that locks in emission reductions through mid-century.
This is why President Obama and his team, including EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, are fully behind passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act and favor legislation over regulation.
As to whether we should be supporting a stronger bill, we have to ask, what’s the alternative? What other bill stands a prayer’s chance of winning 218 votes in the House and 60 votes in the Senate? What other bill has the support of President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Reps. Waxman and Markey? What other bill could you even get out of the relevant committees?
Passing legislation of this magnitude is hard. Look at the efforts to reform health care. An entire generation of Americans has come and gone and that issue is not yet resolved.
If the planet is to avoid the catastrophic threat of run-away global warming, Congress must act now. We just don’t have time to waste.
Sam Parry is the director of EDF’s Action Network.
Posted in Climate Change Legislation Read 2 Responses
President Calls on House to Pass Climate Bill
At this afternoon’s press conference, the president spoke about the climate change legislation that the House is set to address on Friday. Here’s what he said:
We all know why this is so important. The nation that leads in the creation of a clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the 21st century’s global economy. That’s what this legislation seeks to achieve. It’s a bill that will open the door to a better future for this nation and that’s why I urge members of Congress to come together and pass it.
That’s about all that needs to be said — it’s clear what our members of Congress need to do now.
Posted in Climate Change Legislation Read 1 Response
Link: TNR on How Climate Bill Allocates Allowances
Brad Plumer over at TNR has a good post about how allowances are allocated in the climate bill in front of the House. He goes into detail about how savings will be passed through to consumers, including some insight from our own Nat Keohane.
Also posted in What Others are Saying Read 1 Response
Climate Bill Passes Five Tests on Allocating Allowances
I was invited to testify yesterday in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on how allowances are allocated under HR2454, the American Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES). You can see my full testimony here.
I started with the broad economic arguments for passing climate legislation now: by doing so, we can harness American innovation, ensure leadership in making the next generation of clean-energy technologies, and unleash investment that will help pull our economy out of the recession.
Then I turned to the allocation provisions of the bill. The allocation plan will preserve the environmental and economic effectiveness of the legislation, helping move us forward in solving the climate crisis in a way that is affordable, equitable and efficient.
Specifically, I outlined five major principles that any set of allocations should reflect, and illustrated how HR2454 fulfills each.
- First, the bill protects consumers, particularly low-income consumers. It does this through three channels: allowance value allocated to local distribution companies, who are required to pass that value on to customers in the form of lower utility bill; direct funding for rebates and energy credits directed specifically at low- and moderate-income households; and broader tax refunds, especially in the later years of the program. In total, nearly half (44 percent) of the total allowance value goes directly to households – amounting to an estimated $700 billion in present value.
- Second, HR2454 includes provisions that preserve and strengthen the international competitiveness of U.S. businesses and workers during the transition to a clean energy economy, by directing about 12 percent of total allowance value (over the life of the bill) to energy-intensive and trade-exposed industries.
- Third, the allocation plan respects differences across states and regions by allocating half of the allowances for electricity consumers on the basis of CO2 emissions and half on the basis of electricity generation.
- Fourth, the integrity and credibility of the program is preserved since the bill ensures that consumers receive the allowance value intended for their benefit due to provisions specifically requiring utility companies to pass on the allowance value they receive.
- Finally, HR2454 directs some value (26 percent over the life of the bill) to public purposes that are the objectives of the legislation, including clean energy innovation, carbon capture and storage, investments in renewables and energy efficiency, and climate change adaptation.
Overall, HR2454 passes these tests with flying colors.
Also posted in Economics Read 1 Response