House likely to vote on climate change bill in September-- lawmaker

Washington (Platts)--19Apr2007

The US House Energy and Commerce Committee will draft by late spring or
early summer a climate change bill requiring mandatory reductions of
greenhouse gas emissions, a subcommittee chief said Thursday.

Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, a Virginia
Democrat said he anticipated the full committee would consider the legislation
in early September, with a House vote in late September.

Boucher, who was speaking at an energy conference hosted by Pepper
Hamilton and the Abraham Group, said he anticipated negotiations with the
Senate on climate change legislation to begin by the end of the year, and a
joint final bill to go to the president in 2008.

Boucher, who represents a coal district, said he as well as committee
chairman John Dingell of Michigan, an auto manufacturing state, "had been
skeptical about a mandatory program" but changed their minds as the
"scientific consensus has deeply solidified."

"It's no longer a question of if mandatory controls will be put in place
but when," Boucher said.

He noted that a recent Supreme Court decision requiring the US
Environmental Protection Agency justify why it is not regulating tail-pipe
carbon emissions, "has made it clear that we must have a system of mandatory
controls." He added that "most observers think it highly unlikely EPA can
develop a scientific justification for withholding regulations."

On Wednesday, Boucher had told reporters he expected the committee to
draft by Memorial Day an energy legislation package that would address
efficiency, conservation and alternative fuels, and may possibly fix problems
with the Department of Energy's loan guarantee program. The broad energy bill
would address energy independence, he said, and that should see floor action
by July 4.

--Gerald Karey, gerry_karey@platts.com