Washington (Platts)--22Apr2008

Three US House Democrats have begun circulating among colleagues a set of
principles for a climate-change bill that would require the US to cut
greenhouse gas emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 and commit the nation
to binding international emission targets.
Overall, the principles seek to reduce GHG emissions to avoid the harms
of global warming, transition the US to a "clean energy economy," minimize the
impact of regulating GHG emissions and help communities and ecosystems most
vulnerable to global warming.
The three House members also said any climate change bill must require
the US to enter international negotiations to establish binding emissions
reductions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Ed Markey, chairman of the US House Select Committee on Energy
Independence and Global Warming, Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight
and Government Reform Committee and Jay Inslee, a select committee senior
member, who also serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, are
circulating the principles and a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
encouraging their adoption.
Other principles pursued by the lawmakers call for enforceable
requirements to cut emissions and limited emission offsets. Revenues from
auctioning emission allowances to industries would be used to invest in
low-emissions energy technologies, to offset higher energy costs for consumers
and for incentives to developing countries to reduce their emissions.
Markey is from Massachusetts, Waxman from California and Inslee from
Washington.
"Any solution to global warming must cut pollution, help people, and
encourage profits from a clean energy economy," Markey said in a statement on
Tuesday. "These climate tenets give Congress a roadmap for an economy-wide
solution to our climate challenge."
Pelosi, a California Democrat, created the select committee and named
Markey chairman to help the House Energy and Commerce Committee draft a
climate bill. That panel, chaired by Michigan Democrat John Dingell, plans to
offer an economy-wide GHG cap and emissions trading bill later this year.
The Bush administration opposes mandates on US GHG emissions and
committing to binding international limits on emissions.