Waxman’s Lower Standards Do Not Reduce Costs to Consumers
Nicolas Loris /
In an attempt to win over the public, manufacturers and garner more Congressional support, House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman reduced the short-term stringency of greenhouse gas emission cuts as well as reduced the impossible goals for a renewable portfolio standard.
The concessions, as reported by CQPolitics and the New York Times Greenwire, include:
• 17% carbon cuts by 2020 (instead of 20%), but later reductions do not change
• Allowances
o 35% of allowances to local electric distribution companies
o Trade-intensive industries, including pulp, paper, cement and steel,
also would get free credits — 15 percent starting in 2014 but phasing
out by 2 percent per year.(per NYT)
o “Some” allowances to auto industry for research on new technology
o Additional allowances to refineries pending – between 1 and 5 percent
• Renewable Portfolio Standard would drop to 15% by 2020, with another 5% from energy efficiency
o A 3% “Swinging Door” would allow states to meet RPS with 12-18
percent of renewables and the rest from efficiency
o Expands biomass definition and includes hydro built back as far as 1992
o Nuclear or CCS-coal plants would not count toward the baseline
• In 2025 President could impose carbon tariffs