An unlikely duo, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho), has joined forces to craft a bill that would create a loan program encouraging private landowners to plant trees to help reduce global warming. Funding for the program would come from fines collected under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, which amounted to about $45 million last year. A separate proposal from Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.), Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Rep. Jennifer Dunn (R-Wash.) would allow state and local governments to issue tax-exempt bonds to help nonprofit groups buy forestland and protect it from development. Rounding out the weird combo category, Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are sponsoring a bill that would let communities issue $9.5 billion in zero-cost bonds for environmental projects, including buying green space, protecting water quality, and cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields.
