Senator Barbara Boxer released a 923-page draft of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act over the weekend, the Senate version of climate and energy legislation, for the first time specifying emissions allocations and costs proposed in the bill. "We've reached another milestone as we move to a clean energy future, creating millions of jobs and protecting our children from dangerous pollution," Boxer, chairperson of the Environmental and Public Works Committee, who wrote the bill with Senator John Kerry, said on Friday.
Senator Barbara Boxer released a 923-page draft of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act over the weekend, the Senate version of climate and energy legislation, for the first time specifying emissions allocations and costs proposed in the bill.
"We've reached another milestone as we move to a clean energy future, creating millions of jobs and protecting our children from dangerous pollution," Boxer, chairperson of the Environmental and Public Works Committee, who wrote the bill with Senator John Kerry, said on Friday.
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In terms of emissions allocation, the Senate bill in many respect mirrors provisions in the House version passed last summer (H.R. 2454, the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.)
Electric utilities & coal
Boxer's bill uses identical language to the Waxman-Markey bill, allocating 30 percent of the free emissions allowances available to state-regulated local electric distribution companies (LDC's) and requiring the LDC's to use revenue generated from those free emissions credits to protect consumers from price increases in electricity.
Merchant (investor-owned) coal operators will receive 3.5 percent of the free credits, and companies holding long-term purchase agreements 1.5 percent. Both would see their free allocations drop to zero between 2026 and 2030.
Coinciding with the release of the draft bill, Boxer also released an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency (pdf) saying the Senate bill will cost the average American household roughly the same as the House version, about $100 per year.
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