Pleasant Surprise: Dick Lugar to introduce "Practical Energy and Climate Change Bill" on June 7

[rhombus]

Sen Lugar (R-IN) has developed his own climate/energy legislation which is built on some aspects of the Kerry-Lieberman bill. His bill will be introduced at a news conference next week, June 7.

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/climate-change/post-carbon/documents/Lugar-Energy-and-Climate-Plan-outline.pdf

http://lugar.senate.gov/energy/


We are going to get a clean energy bill this year. We need just one GOP vote. Lugar, Graham, Snowe, Collins, and Scott Brown will mostly likely be on board.:patriot:

[DrToast]

1. Any energy experts want to comment on how his plan looks?

[bigwillq]

3. kick (nt)

[karynnj]

2. It is interesting, but it does not price carbon in any way from what I can see

I read the link, but I don't see the mechanisms that push companies to actually use the cleaner technologies. I suspect that this is mostly a CYA bill for Senators in states where constituents want them to vote for clean energy.

The fact also is we need far more than one Republican vote - there are many Democrats not on board.

[Massacure]

4. Cap and Trade is the only noticable difference I can spot.

I wonder if anyone else sees anything else that is different that I don't?

[karynnj]

5. It's GOAL is about half of the reduction Kerry's bill goes for

- and even that is too low, but the most Kerry thinks they have a chance for.

It looks like the Lugar bill has no means of pricing carbon. This eliminates any using cost as a lever to change the energy mix. After the Rio conference in 1992, the intent was to push companies to things voluntarily, but it completely did not work. It is not clear why this would be different.

If they aren't in the Kerry bill, some of the conservation stuff looks good.

[TheKentuckian]

6. While the proposals have some laudable conservation goals

It promises to do very little other than provide an anemic 1.25 billion in biofuel research over five years, a flex fuel requirement, set up a loan program through co-ops for retro fitting for a billion..leveraged to five, a state/Fed match loan program for industry, 36 billion in incentives for nukes, and makes the Federal government an early adopter of conservation to the tune of 2 billion dollars.

Most of what is proposed is voluntary for business in exchange for some incentives or in other words not even a token effort to seriously address energy. It's a band aid though maybe one in good faith doing all the Republican ideology can tolerate.

If you look at the scope and immediacy of the problem then Lugar's effort is seriously laughable and possibly insulting. Praying to the Invisible Hand ain't even going to touch this and he put more into nuclear than the entire remainder of his proposal combined. I don't know if Republicans are equipped mentally to deal with actual reform or to say that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
If coal fired plants want to avoid being forced to add equipment like scrubbers they can shut down their worst polluters, meaning a voluntary punt program. If they do a little now they will be exempted from further regulation and investment.

Other than actually dictating some things on the Federal government and continuing to push fuel standards (unless it gets too hard, then there are exemptions) this piece of dog eaten homework is bullshit.