Statement of Emily Figdor
Environment New Hampshire Federal Global Warming Program
Director
On Tomorrow’s Introduction of America’s
Climate Security Act by Senators Lieberman and Warner
We applaud Senators Lieberman
and Warner for their leadership on global warming. Time is running out to stop the worst effects
of global warming, and this bill is an important starting point for action.
The progress that we’ve made
so far on this bill is testament to the power of the grassroots movement of
Americans demanding decisive action on global warming and a growing
understanding of the urgency of the science by our political leaders.
Without the leadership of
Senators Sanders and Boxer and Representative Waxman and their tireless efforts
to ensure that science dictates the U.S. response to global warming, we never
would have progressed this far.
To rise to the challenge of
global warming, this new bill must be strengthened. Three changes are essential:
- The bill
must achieve faster and deeper cuts in pollution, which is what the
science demands. The pollution caps in the bill aim to
reduce total U.S.
global warming emissions by about 11% by 2020 and by just over 50% by
2050. Additional, modest reductions
may be achieved through other policies in the bill, but those reductions
are difficult to quantify and are not guaranteed. According to the current science, the United States
must reduce its total global warming emissions by at least 15% by 2020 and
by at least 80% by 2050. In
addition, periodic reviews of the bill’s scientific adequacy must trigger
additional pollution-reduction requirements.
- Flexibility
mechanisms in the bill must be tightened to prevent undermining the goals
of the bill. The bill currently allows companies to
exceed their pollution limits by paying sources not covered by the program
to reduce emissions. Ensuring that
a ton of pollution from such “offsets” equals a ton of real reductions is
a major challenge. In addition,
offsets delay the transition to cleaner technology that will be needed to
achieve deep future cuts in emissions. Under the bill, a company could
theoretically meet its entire 2020 pollution-reduction requirement through
offsets. The number of offset
reductions allowed under the bill must be significantly lowered.
- Polluters
must be required to pay for every ton of pollution they put into the
atmosphere. The bill gives hundreds of billions of
dollars to polluters for free, which will create windfall profits, such as
has occurred in Europe, and take vital resources away from easing America’s
transition to a clean energy future. In the United Kingdom alone, windfall
profits from emission trading have been estimated at nearly $2 billion. These profits come directly from the
pocketbooks of consumers. Under
this bill, just under half (49%) of the pollution permits would initially be
given to polluters for free, and it will take 25 years (until 2036) before
we stop handing polluters free money.
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