Cap & Trade from Senator Lugar

Cap and Trade is Dead and Gone
Indiana Senator Richard Lugar said a cap and trade solution to climate change is a dead issue; and, thus he is proposing a new approach to energy legislation. Once interested in carbon trading, he now concludes, based on Europe’s poor experience, poor US public support, and low carbon prices for his own farm’s credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange, that such a system is no longer workable, “There was a high water mark of 7 dollars a ton, at one point, closer to 5 years ago but currently, as you know, it’s now 10 cents a ton.” Lugar says this shows the market believes there’s not a ghost of a chance Congress will pass a cap and trade bill. So Lugar has now introduced a non cap and trade energy bill that seeks to, finally, end US addiction to foreign oil. At a Washington press conference last week Lugar said, “Today, I’m introducing legislation that would, first of all, reduce our foreign oil dependency, secondly, save Americans money on their energy bills, third, improve our industrial competitiveness, fourth, invest in cleaner and more diverse energy sources, and, fifth, better use our domestic fossil fuel resources.” Lugar says the bill’s 3.75 billion dollar price tag to boost vehicle fuel efficiency, build energy efficiency, and phase out coal-fired plants in favor of nuclear ones, is well worth the cost. “It would cut foreign oil dependence by more than 40 percent, decrease national energy consumption by 11 percent, reduce average household electric bills by 15 percent, and cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20 percent-or about 1.6 billion metric tons.” Lugar argues it’s the cheapest and easiest way to fix the “leaks in our energy system” while not pre-empting future use of carbon credits.