US senator sets out details of planned global warming bill

Washington (Platts)--20Mar2006

A Democratic member of the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee outlined legislation Monday that would require power plants and
other industrial facilities to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat-California, said she hopes the energy
committee will debate her proposal at a climate-change conference it is slated
to hold on April 4.

"The clock is ticking on global warming," Feinstein said. "If we do
not...reverse global warming soon, we will do irreparable harm to the world
around us."

Feinstein's proposal, which she has not yet introduced, would direct the
Energy Department to establish a mandatory cap-and-trade program to slow and
ultimately reverse the nation's level of industrial greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the program, power plants and other industrial sources would have
cap their GHG emissions at current levels beginning in 2007 and carrying on
through 2010.

The cap would be lowered by 0.5% annually between 2011 and 2015, and 1%
per year between 2016 and 2020. All told, the plan would reduce US GHG
emissions by 7.25% compared with the current level--a reduction equal to
removing about 111 million automobiles from the road, Feinstein said.

Feinstein said her plan would reduce GHG emissions while "safeguarding"
the US economy. It would include a "carbon market review commission" that
would analyze the program's impact on the economy, and which could give
companies "more flexibility in meeting reduction targets if necessary,"
Feinstein spokesman Howard Gantman said.

Feinstein has discussed her proposal with several members of the energy
committee, but to date, no other lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors,
Gantman said.

Energy committee chairman Pete Domenici, Republican-New Mexico, has not
yet reviewed Feinstein's proposal, said panel spokeswoman Marnie Funk.

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