LEGISLATION: Sens. Cantwell and Collins continue to push their climate alternative

Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) pushed for their climate bill yesterday even as they distanced themselves from an alternative proposal still being negotiated by key senators.

Both lawmakers said they would look at yet-to-be-released legislative text from Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) but downplayed the notion of their ideas being merged into a larger package.

"I think the bill that we've come up with is the right approach," said Collins. "So rather than see parts of our bill cannibalized and put into another bill, I think that they should take a look at coming onto our legislation."

Similarly, Cantwell said, "I think that we probably still have a difference of opinion" with Kerry, Graham and Lieberman on carbon trading, when asked whether the concepts in her bill -- introduced in December -- could move into a larger plan.

"I think it's changed 25 times in the last 25 days," she said of the bipartisan trio's ongoing efforts to draft a legislative proposal that could garner 60 votes in the U.S. Senate. Kerry, Graham and Lieberman are not expected to release the full details of their plan until next month.

"We've certainly communicated the principles that we have behind this legislation. We appreciate how hard they have been working," Cantwell added. The Congressional Budget Office plans to score her bill as revenue-neutral, she said.

The Cantwell-Collins bill, or the CLEAR Act, follows a very different approach from a global warming bill that passed the House last year. Known as "cap and dividend," it would require producers and importers of fossil fuels, but not users of them, to pay for "carbon shares."

Can differences over the CLEAR Act be resolved?

Three-quarters of resulting revenue would be returned to consumer pocketbooks, with the average family of four gaining $1,100 annually.

Supporters of the idea tout its simplicity and crackdown on Wall Street traders, while others question its political viability and ability to provide investments for clean-energy technologies considered crucial to control warming temperatures (ClimateWire, Dec. 15, 2009).

Academics and think tanks increasingly are analyzing the bill's impact, as well. Yesterday, Collins promoted a new paper from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, finding that "the CLEAR Act delivers positive net benefits to the majority of households in every state."

The Nicholas *Institute* for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University also released a policy brief this month estimating that greenhouse-gas emissions under the CLEAR Act would be higher in 2030 than under the House-passed bill.

In the meantime, Kerry, Graham and Lieberman may be trying to incorporate some of Cantwell and Collins' ideas into their upcoming plan, particularly in regard to returning to revenues to consumers, several sources said.

Jason Grumet, president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, said there eventually will need to be coordination of both approaches, since an ultimate climate bill needs the votes of Cantwell and Collins along with those of Kerry, Graham and Lieberman.

"I have a pretty high degree of confidence that smart people of good will can figure this out," he said. "If supporters of carbon caps can't reconcile their differences, then we're not going to get climate legislation."