by Peter Wray, Political Chair

In 2007, an historic energy bill was signed into law, raising the fuel
efficiency for vehicles and providing incentives for conservation, etc.
Missing from the bill was support for renewable energy sources. To fill
this important gap Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN), has introduced a bill to
establish a national renewable electricity standard that requires 25% of
our electricity to come from renewables by the year 2025.

On the House side, the Sierra Club continues to support the Udall-Platts
Renewable Electricity Standard bill (HR 969).

To stem Global Warming, it is the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act
(S.2191) that appears to have most support in the upper chamber.
Therefore, the Sierra Club is working to improve this particular bill.

At the top of the list of issues with the Lieberman-Warner bill is the use
of Cap-and-Trade measures to reduce green house gas emissions. This issue
can be quite complex, but some major aspects that the Club is focusing on
are how the permits and caps are allocated, social equity during
transition away from reliance on fossil fuels, and the treatment of
offsets. And if a Carbon Credit Corporation is formed, who gets the
collected money?