With two weeks until the July 4 congressional recess, discussions about how to move Chairman Waxman’s cap-and-trade legislation are still ongoing.  The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is slated to finish its mark up of the American Clean Energy and Leadership Act.  A major piece of this bill is the delicately negotiated fifteen percent renewable electricity standard for utilities.  The goal is to implement this standard by 2021 with up to a quarter of the requirement available through efficiency improvements.  While the Senate legislation is getting far less attention than the broader climate change legislation passed out of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce last month, it will likely become the center of a bicameral energy bill that might, or might not, include the cap-and trade-provisions drafted in the House.  The markup will commence on Tuesday and might continue into Wednesday.

The Senate Finance Committee will also take a close look at the tax implications of a cap-and-trade system in a hearing Tuesday morning.  The chair of the Finance Committee, Sen. Max Baucus, is also a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, so he has a stake in how the final cap-and-trade legislation is put together.  Witnesses include Gary Hufbauer, Peterson Institute for International Economics; Keith Butler, Duke Energy; Mark Price, financial products analyst, Washington National Tax.

For further information about this topic, please contact Akin Gump.