March 12
Two well-known Democrats from opposite sides of the country share the same aggressive view on subduing global warming.
That has prompted the pair of House leaders to demand a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants not equipped with advanced technology to control heat-trapping gas emissions.
Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts agree their bill puts investors and power companies on notice that if they invest in new sources of global warming pollution now, taxpayers wonīt pay for cleanup costs later.
Under their legislation introduced Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency and state authorities would be prevented from issuing permits unless new coal-fired power plants were outfitted with state-of-the-art technology to capture and permanently sequester at least 85 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. It also keeps new low-technology plants from receiving free or reduced cost emissions allowances under any cap-and-trade system.
The ban extends until a comprehensive federal regulatory program for global warming pollution is in place that slices emissions 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. Thatīs a higher bar than was set with the Warner-Lieberman climate change bill that emerged from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last December.
That bipartisan bill could be headed to the Senate floor this spring if backers can garner the 60 votes to avoid a filibuster. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is taking the lead on crafting his chamberīs bill.
"Comprehensive economy-wide regulation to address global warming is coming soon," said Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "Those plants will be a lot more expensive to operate. Ratepayers need to make sure they wonīt be stuck with the bill."
Just a year ago, an estimated 150 coal plants were in the hopper. But utilities have canceled or back-burnered plans for some 45 of those, according to an analysis by the Department of Energyīs National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh. Very few of the 100-plus remaining plants in the design and planning stages include technology to capture and store emissions.
Emissions from just one low-tech plant during its 50-year lifetime, Markey and Waxman claim, could offset reductions potentially achieved through the Northeastern statesī Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
"If we lose control of coal, we will have lost control of the climate," said Markey, chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. "This bill will make companies prepare for the future."
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