***UPDATE: The full Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Moving America toward a Clean Energy Economy and Reducing Global Warming Pollution: Legislative Tools” on Tuesday, July 7, at 10:00 am. Scheduled witnesses include the heads of the US Department of Energy, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the US Department of Agriculture, as well as the Governor of Mississippi, the Mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, and representatives from The Dow Chemical Company and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

On Friday evening, June 26, the House of Representatives voted to approve the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) (H.R. 2454), a 1300-plus page bill that would impose the first federal restrictions on CO2 emissions, establish a market structure for trading CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions permits and promote investment in, and transition to, cleaner-energy technologies.  Friday’s 219 to 212 House vote was an important step forward for comprehensive climate change legislation, providing a much-needed endorsement of the cap-and-trade-style regulatory approach.  But if the vote in the House wasn’t challenging enough, securing the 60 votes needed in the Senate likely will prove even more difficult.

H.R. 2454: Select Provisions of the Bill

Climate Intel will provide more detailed assessments of the final House bill in upcoming posts, but some of the most notable elements of the new bill include—

• The first-ever federal cap on US emissions of greenhouse gases, starting with a required 17 % reduction from 2005 levels by 2020 and an 80 % reduction by 2050
• A system for buying, selling and trading greenhouse gas emissions permits within the limits of the cap, including a robust market for domestic and international carbon offsets
• A renewable portfolio standard requiring utilities to meet 20 percent of their load needs using renewable sources or energy efficiency by 2020, with at least 15% coming from renewable electricity
• New funding for new clean energy technologies, including renewable-energy, energy-efficiency and clean-coal technologies
• Targeted allocations of tradable emissions permits to reduce the impact of the program on key stakeholders, including coal-reliant states, consumers and “energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries that make products like iron, steel, cement and paper.”

The Vote

The Friday floor vote capped off several frenzied weeks of negotiations with policymakers in the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Science and Technology Committee, the Ways and Means Committee, the Agriculture Committee and the Rules Committee, which had to gain support for the bill.  Ultimately, the House passed 219 to 212, with 8 Republicans supporting and 44 Democrats opposing. See the vote count here.

Particularly contentious was the addition of a 300+ page “manager’s amendment” at 3:00am on Friday morning, less than 12 hours before the floor vote. At the time of the debate, the House clerk on the floor of the House was integrating that amendment into the bill. That amendment contained several key provisions which ensured the support of farm state Democrats like Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, such as placing an agricultural conservation incentive program under the aegis of the Department of Agriculture as opposed to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Next Hurdle

Politically, the House vote was an important victory for the Administration, which wanted the bill to pass in at least one chamber before the upcoming international climate change conference in Copenhagen, scheduled for December 7-18.  The vote was also important for the House democratic leadership, which had concerns that legislative and executive energy were fading as the President turns to another major priority—comprehensive health care reform.

From a longer-term perspective, while the vote was a positive sign for cap-and-trade advocates, it remains to be seen whether the bill can make similar headway in the Senate.  Though democratic leaders intend to push the bill, marking it up after the July recess and bringing it up for a vote in the fall, they will face a number of challenges: first, overcoming the filibuster requirement of the Senate will require 60 votes—and with the Minnesota Senate race still unresolved, the Democratic contingent remains merely 59 votes. Second, even before leadership reaches across the aisle, significant work needs to be done with moderates within the Democratic party; key votes such as Senators Debbie Stabenow and Evan Bayh, who have expressed concerns with cap-and-trade before, will want assurances that farm and manufacturing constituencies will not be disproportionately affected by any new regulation.

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