Most CO2 Emissions Permits To Be Given Away Initially, Lawmaker Says

A key Democratic congressman says a proposed bill to cap and trade carbon emissions would give away most of the permits to polluting industries for an initial period of 10 to 15 years. The statement by U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle (D.-Pa.) comes amid reports that the congressional subcommittee attempting to forge a cap-and-trade bill is badly split between Democrats who want to move ahead with tough legislation to cap carbon emissions and Republicans and conservative Democrats who are insisting that oil refineries, coal plants, utilities, and heavy industries in their districts not be penalized by legislation that would place a high price on carbon emissions. President Obama said earlier that nearly all the permits should be auctioned. Doyle said that initially distributing the permits for free would give industries time to adopt technology to reduce carbon emissions and would ensure that U.S. industries were not at a competitive disadvantage with foreign firms.