From the WSJ Energy Roundup:

U.S. Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and John Warner, R-Va., introduced legislation that could reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

The bill would cap greenhouse-gas emissions from power generation, transportation and manufacturing sources between 2007 and 2050. Those industries would be required to reach 2005 emission levels in 2012, then reduce the levels annually at a “constant, gradual rate” to reach 1990 emission levels by 2020, or 15% below the 2005 emissions level.

In July, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded that an emissions cut on the order of the cuts outlined in the bill would keep the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere below 500 parts per million at the end of the century, the senators noted.

In reports released this past summer, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that the world might avoid the most severe impacts of global warming if it keeps the greenhouse-gas concentration below 500 ppm.

The bill’s goal is to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from targeted sources to 65% below their 1990 levels by 2050. The mandate could result in an overall greenhouse-gas reduction of up to 57% of 1990 emissions, the senators said. The bill’s restrictions generally apply to facilities producing more than 10,000 metric tons of CO2-equivalent gases.

The bill would create a cap-and-trade system that would allocate allowances to emitters and let them buy, sell and trade allowances.

The Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air, of which Lieberman is chairman, will hold a hearing on the bill next week, he said. The subcommittee will then formally consider the measure the week after, and Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., had said the bill could clear her panel in November, Lieberman said.

“Things are moving very quickly,” Lieberman said after a speech on the Senate floor with Warner to announce the plan.

It might be getting close to time to change our opinion poll.


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