by CEI Staff
April 28, 2005

Contact:

Marlo Lewis, 202.669.6693  

Christine Hall, 202.331.2258

Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005—This week Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) introduced a revised version of his climate bill, the “Climate Change Technology Deployment and Infrastructure Credit Act of 2005.” This version omits provisions to award regulatory credits for registered greenhouse gas emission reductions applicable to a future Kyoto-style cap-and-trade program. This system would inadvertently build a corporate clientele for Kyoto-type energy rationing, because the credits attain full market value only under a legally binding emissions reduction target or “cap.”  

The Competitive Enterprise Institute congratulates Senators Hagel and his cosponsors, Senators Larry Craig (R-ID), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), for removing transferable credits from their bill. “We never doubted that when the sponsors understood the political and economic perils of an early credit program, they would drop the troubling provisions. They have done so. We applaud them,” said CEI Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis.

The move comes one month after the Department of Energy, in a rulemaking to revise the voluntary reporting of greenhouse gases program, made clear that it ha no authority under current law to create an emissions credit program on its own. “We’re pleased all the key players are now on the same page,” Lewis said.

To read Lewis's testimony on transferable credits, submitted to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, click here.