Word: gas
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...Senate's long-awaited draft legislation to reduce U.S. carbon emissions and shift the country to a clean-energy economy signals that Washington is inching ever closer to addressing global warming. The sweeping bill, sponsored by Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry, will cut U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, and 83% by 2050 - targets that in the short term are a bit more ambitious than a similar carbon cap-and-trade bill passed by the House two months ago. "This is the beginning of one of the most important battles we will face...
President Barack Obama issued a similar call to action when he spoke to the U.N. about climate change at a daylong summit on Sept. 22. But his speech, which contained high emotion and few concrete specifics on how much the U.S. would actually cut greenhouse-gas emissions, disappointed some. It was remarkable, after eight years of stonewalling from former President George W. Bush, to see a U.S. leader rally the rest of the world to combat global warming, but Obama kept his carbon promises vague, suggesting his limits. (Read "A Wind Shift in the Global Warming Debate...
...oblige those large emitters to get permits that demonstrate they are using the best available technology for controlling carbon whenever they engage in new construction or upgrading. "By using the power and authority of the Clean Air Act, we can begin reducing emissions from the nation's largest greenhouse-gas emitters without placing an undue burden on the businesses that make up the vast majority of our economy," said EPA administrator Lisa Jackson in a speech at the Governors' Global Climate Change Summit in Los Angeles...
...proposed rule marks the first time the Federal Government has tried to regulate stationary sources of greenhouse-gas emissions. But again, the details are far from certain. It's not clear yet what "best available technology" will mean for carbon - especially in the case of new coal plants, which have no real way to drastically limit carbon emissions. And the rule is certain to come under attack from industry opponents; by putting only large emitters under the proposed rule, the EPA saves a lot of expense for small businesses but could be accused of being unfair to larger ones...
...reduction target. But the bill still has plenty of holes for a piece of legislation that has been in the works for months, saying little about how allowances for carbon emissions would be distributed among polluting industries - a key part of any cap-and-trade bill. And with natural gas fans blaming the bill for having too little support of natural gas and nuclear fans saying there's not enough support of nuclear, gathering up support from Republican Senators and even Democrats will be an uphill challenge. The negotiations are just beginning...