As lawmakers deliberated on the benefits and costs of placing a national cap on carbon-based emissions, electric utility executives, environmental advocates and clean-technology entrepreneurs alike made their case in front of the panel as well as behind the scenes. The intense effort — on a day that environmentalists across the country were commemorating as Earth Day — underscored the uncertain fate facing the bill sponsored by the committee’s chairman, Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), which proposes ambitious cuts in greenhouse gases over the next four decades.The bill itself was introduced last month, and is, according to the New York Times (free subscription required), "the most far-reaching piece of energy and environmental legislation to come before Congress in years, would require large changes in the way the United States generates electricity, manufactures products, heats and lights its homes and offices, and moves people and goods." In addition to these effects, it also has the potential to substantially affect agriculture, according to the Des Moines Register: "Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says climate legislation should be a "net winner" for farmers, although details that will determine how much growers get paid for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions are yet to be worked out. Payments to farmers could hinge in part on the extent to which emission allowances for greenhouse gases are sold or given away to utilities and other polluters, Vilsack said Tuesday."
Published: 4/23/09
