Cap-and-Trade Primer Goes to Washington, (DC)
We all know that the devil's in the details when it comes to legislation and the American Clean Energy and Security Act, a.k.a. Waxman-Markey, is no exception. This 900-plus page proposal tackling climate change and clean energy is chock full of such fiendish facets.
We at Sightline Institute carefully studied the climate portion of the ambitious bill from Representatives Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts and prepared our new-and-improved Cap and Trade 101: A Climate Policy Primer to take a close look at what the bill proposes.
The primer will run you through the basic concepts of capping emissions and issuing tradable, carbon-pollution permits; it explains in (relatively) simple terms the moving parts involved in regulating carbon dioxide pollution; and it gives an assessment of Waxman-Markey's likelihood of tamping down emissions while investing in renewable energy and protecting American consumers struggling to pay rising fossil fuel prices.
Download a free copy of the primer or two-page executive summary here.
In brief, here's what we learned.
