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  • American Power Act: Allowance allocation

    Following up on last week’s preliminary analysis of the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill, here’s a closer look at how allowances are distributed under the cap-and-trade program. High level: the allowances allocated over the life of the program, from 2013 to 2050, heavily favor consumer benefits. Smaller chunks are dedicated to deficit reduction, industry, and other objectives. […]

  • Why the American Power Act is not a corporate give-away

    In his insightful post, Rob Stavins makes two key points regarding the allocation of emission allowances under climate legislation like that introduced last week by Sens. Kerry and Lieberman. First, Stavins addresses head-on the concerns that some progressives have toward the allocation provisions in the bill, asking, “Is the Kerry-Lieberman allowance allocation a corporate give-away?” […]

  • The American Power Act and California’s AB 32

    Some commentators have mistakenly concluded that if Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman’s American Power Act passes, it will make California’s Global Warming Solution Act (AB 32) moot. This is wrong. The American Power Act preserves nearly all of California’s clean energy and carbon reduction policy tools. It would take away only one tool: the […]

  • A closer look at the Kerry-Lieberman cap-and-trade proposal

    As with the Waxman-Markey bill (H.R. 2454), passed by the House of Representatives last June, there is now some confusing commentary in the press and blogosphere about the allocation of allowances in the new Senate proposal — the American Power Act of 2010 — sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.). As […]

  • Rural Electric Cooperatives: Efficiency measures more important

    Here’s a  stunner from Climate Wire (subs. req’d) today: Rural electric cooperatives, which represent many small, coal-dependent utilities in the Midwest and raised a ruckus in the House debate, are eligible for a portion of allowances under the new draft. But at a conference last week, the head of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, […]

  • Bingaman hearing on pollution allowance allocation; progressive greens beware

    When Kerry and Boxer introduced their clean energy bill earlier this month, it contained a huge gap: it said almost nothing about the allocation of pollution allowances under the cap-and-tr… er, pollution reduction and investment program. The reason for the omission is simple: Doling out what is effectively a huge new pot of money is […]

  • How CBO budget scoring devalues efficiency … WITH PUPPIES!

    The Congressional Budget Office is back in the news, after director Doug Elmendorf testified before Congress about the economic impacts of clean energy legislation. Opponents of that legislation rushed to hype a few of his comments out of context, and succeeded, as usual, in getting their voices amplified in the Washington Post. Elmendorf didn’t say […]

  • What does the CBO report on Waxman-Markey actually tell us? (Not much).

    The Congressional Budget Office recently issued its report on the Waxman-Markey bill. The Washington Times soon trumpeted: “CBO puts hefty price tag on emissions plan: Obama’s cap-and-trade system seen costing $846 billion.” This is quite misleading. Actually, the CBO report tells us virtually nothing about the economic costs of the bill or how much consumers […]

  • Myth: Waxman-Markey gives away 85 percent of allowances to polluters

    As the Waxman-Markey climate/energy bill nears a make-or-break vote in the House, those who work to improve it need more than ever to understand it first. Smart strategy is based on sound information. On that note: one of the central critiques of the bill is a red herring at best and at worst simply false. […]