U.S. Environmental Groups Call for Stronger Cap-and-Trade Bill

A coalition of environmental organizations has written a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to reinstate several stronger conservation measures recently removed from a draft carbon cap-and-trade bill now working its way through Congress. The group ”“ which includes the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, and the World Wildlife Fund — asked Speaker Pelosi to reinstate a provision that would allow the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide emissions under the Clean Air Act. That provision was removed as a compromise that the bill’s sponsors — Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif) and Ed Markey (D-Mass) — made with industry. The environmental groups also urged Pelosi to mandate that 20 percent of utilities’ energy come from renewable sources by 2020, with only three of the 20 percent attributable to energy efficiency. The current version would allow utilities to meet the 20 percent renewable standard by counting 8 percent from efficiency gains. The environmental coalition called on the speaker not to further weaken a provision in the bill calling for a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2020.