On September 30, U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. Like its House counterpart -- the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which passed the House by a 219-212 margin in late June -- the bill creates a nationwide cap on global warming pollution and makes significant investments in transitioning to a clean energy economy.
Without question, we need new direction in our energy policy. In 2006, U.S. consumers and businesses spent $921 billion on fossil fuels, more than was spent on education or the military. Illinois is on track to spend as much as $43.6 billion on oil alone in 2030. And as oil becomes scarce worldwide, oil companies will be driven to more obscure, expensive, and hostile places to recover it. Competitively, the country that revolutionized transportation through the plane and automobile and transformed information technology through the computer and Internet risks falling far behind in the clean energy revolution of tomorrow.
The challenge is clear: We must take giant steps forward in capturing the potential of clean energy and transitioning to a more sustainable future. The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act is a vital step forward.
Like its House counterpart, the bill is not perfect. The integrity of the bill’s cap on global warming pollution is threatened by the inclusion of “offsets,” which allows polluters to avoid reducing their own emissions and instead pay for greenhouse gas reductions elsewhere (such as planting trees). Pollution reductions achieved through offsets are inherently less certain, permanent, or verifiable than on-site reductions. The bill’s national renewable energy and energy efficiency standards could be strengthened to match similar policies adopted by the Illinois General Assembly in recent years.
That said, this bill deserves our support for the following reasons:
