MORE OBAMA MAGIC FOR ENERGY-CLIMATE BILL?

Can President Obama forge a compromise on an energy bill?
Editorial, June 23, 2010 (Washington Post)

"President Obama will bring senators to the White House soon in another attempt to achieve bipartisan accord on energy and climate policy. The president's push could be the last opportunity to pass a significant bill any time soon.

"The most helpful thing…[would be] a gradually rising price on the carbon emissions produced by the burning of fossil fuels. The best way to do this would be with a simple tax…A well-designed cap-and-trade system also would encourage conservation and fuel switching…Most of the proceeds from either could go right back to consumers, with some set aside for research and infrastructure improvement."

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"Mr. Obama has endorsed some variation of this rational approach. Unfortunately, much of the Senate does not share his enthusiasm. Many Republicans would rather rail…[and] many Democrats don't want to give Republicans any excuse to rail. Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) included a modest cap-and-trade mechanism for utilities and manufacturing in their compromise energy proposal, but even its prospects are uncertain at best."

"Is there a way forward? Some observers argue that it's more realistic for Democrats to press only for politically attractive things such as clean-energy mandates, efficiency standards, research and development funding and lots of energy subsidies. But that approach is expensive…inadequate to meet even…underwhelming medium-term emissions targets…[and] the Democrats' left flank in the Senate has threatened to oppose an energy bill without some kind of carbon price."

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"Another option is to include those politically attractive measures, as well as GOP priorities such as generous provisions for nuclear power and some of the efficiency programs [in the Lugar Practical Energy and Climate Plan]…but to add a cap on emissions from utilities…

"…[Utility emissions] account for about 40 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, and many utilities already have agreed to submit to cap-and-trade regulation. This, too, would be imperfect: It would not raise as much money or cut emissions as much as the Kerry-Lieberman proposal would. But putting a price on carbon even in one economic sector might make it easier to establish a more effective cap in the future. It's a Plan C worth considering."