25th April 2010
A long-awaited climate change bill that would put a price on excessive carbon emissions and generate billions of dollars has been postponed indefinitely.
US Senator John F. Kerry's 20 years of climate change plans hit the bottom Saturday after Senator Lindsey Graham, who had allied himself with Kerry on the issue, abandoned the effort in an unprecedented move.
The South Carolina Republican suddenly decided to switch priorities, claiming that that the Senate's Democratic leadership might proceed with a controversial immigration bill first.
"Moving forward on immigration — in this hurried, panicked manner — is nothing more than a cynical political ploy,'' Graham said. “I know from my own personal experience the tremendous amounts of time, energy, and effort that must be devoted to this issue to make even limited progress.''
The bill, which would create a system that prices carbon emissions and leads most of the proceeds to the public in rebate forms, would provide clean energy incentives worth USD 2 billion a year to the coal industry, Kerry told the Boston Globe, calling it "reduce and refund."
The goal of the plan is to cut 17 percent of carbon pollution from 2005 to 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.
"It is going to put America, for the first time in 30 years, legitimately on the road to energy independence, and it is going to reduce pollution in the air," Kerry said.
Giving states a chance to resume stricter regulations, the House bill will temporarily freeze until 2017.
The Senate bill will probably make that freeze permanent; however, according to the bill's draft, lost revenues will be paid to states for such programs.
Article courtesy of PressTV
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