The best hope for climate change legislation?  Thinking CLEARly.

(June 2010)  Recent disasters such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the deaths of coal miners in West Virginia have highlighted the urgency of passing effective climate legislation that moves America away from dependence on fossil fuels and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Amidst these disasters, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) are circulating draft wording for a new “cap and trade” bill called the American Power Act (APA). Despite their efforts, comprehensive climate and energy legislation is still stalled in the U.S. Senate.  The primary reason for the lack of progress is that much of the focus has been devoted to complicated “cap and trade” proposals such as the APA and a similar bill that narrowly passed the House of Representatives last year. Both proposals are more than 1,000 pages long, and are criticized for relying too much on financial markets and offering too many giveaways to polluting industries.

Congress’ Summer recess and the upcoming mid-term elections leave the Senate with only a small window of time to move forward with climate legislation this year. But passing effective climate legislation in the Senate this year requires starting with the right framework.

MEIC executive director Jim Jensen with WA Sen. Maria Cantwell, sponsor of the CLEAR Act now before the Senate.

The most promising proposal is the CLEAR (Carbon Limits and Energy for American Renewal) Act sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). The 39-page bill involves a “cap and dividend” approach and has gained positive attention from both Democrats and Republicans. The bipartisan CLEAR Act is fairer, simpler, and much easier to understand than the APA and would be much more effective at controlling carbon emissions. Therefore, it should have a better chance of passing Congress. As such, it should be the foundation of any Senate climate bill. 

What is the Economic Impact of CLEAR in Montana?

(Click on the map for a graph that shows how all Montanans with low-middle incomes will get more money in dividends than they pay in higher energy prices as a result of CLEAR’s “cap and dividend” approach. This means that 80% of Montanans will come out ahead as a result of this climate policy.)

For more information about the CLEAR Act go to www.supportclearact.com.

The chart below (click for larger version) is a summary comparison of the CLEAR Act and the American Power Act (APA).

• Read the full text of the CLEAR Act
• Support the CLEAR Act
  
• Read MEIC's official statement on the CLEAR Act (for state and national press)
• Read Fact Sheet on the CLEAR Act
• Read more detailed memo from Sen. Cantwell's office on the CLEAR Act
• Read editorial in support of CLEAR Act (by Peter Barnes,  14 DEC 2009)
  

• READ A COMPARISON OF "CAP & TRADE" VS "CAP & DIVIDEND"

IN THE NEWS: 

• Effort to Block EPA Fails, Revealing Murky Path for Carbon Bill (by Evan Lehmann and Dina Fine Maron, ClimateWire, June 11, 2010)
• In D.C., Flathead Residents Press Senators on Climate Change Bill (by Dan Testa, Flathead Becon, 05-23-10)
  
• No one fond of Senate’s global-warming bill (by Tom Lutey, Billings Gazette, May 18, 2010)
  
• Beyond the Limits of Earth Day: Turning Up the Heat on Climate (by Denis Hayes, 12 APR 2010, Yale Environment 360)  This month marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, an event that has attracted millions to environmental causes. But winning passage of meaningful legislation on climate change requires more than slogans and green talk—it demands intense, determined political action.
  
• Bringing the Heat:  Forget cap-and trade. This is a climate bill you can love.  (by Bill McKibben, April 5, 2010.  Posted by The New Republic)   "In compensation for its flaws, the Cantwell-Collins bill is the kind of legislation you could actually campaign around...."
  
• Washington Post Editorial Supports "Cap & Dividend aproach:  How Congress can get a smart climate-change bill passed (April 5, 2010).  . . . the 100 percent auction option need not hurt most Americans' budgets; Congress could rebate most of the revenue from allowance auctions directly to Americans, making the vast majority of them whole -- or better. Cutting a check to every one of your constituents: Now there's something lawmakers straddling the fence on climate-change legislation should be able to cheer.
  
• Newsweek gives nod to "dividend" approach:  "Changing cap-and-trade to the far more sensible cap-and-rebate (in which polluters' fees go straight back to the public as checks) could make it very popular—and confirm the role of clean energy in rebuilding the economy." (March 26, 2010)
  
• Senate offers some hope for legislation to combat climate change (editorial in The Washington Post, Wednesday, February 10, 2010)
  
• Sen. Graham Slams Push for a 'Half-Assed Energy Bill' (by DARREN SAMUELSOHN of Greenwire, February 3, 2010)

• Climate Change Bill a Tough Sell in Montana (by Dan Testa, Flathead Beacon, 09-02-09) 

• Scientific-American Endorses Cap & Dividend (July 2009)

• Montana PSC Vice-Chairman Ken Toole promotes "Cap & Dividend" as better option for the nation.

• Scientific-American calls upon Congress “to set a cap on fossil-fuel production before Copenhagen, phase in a price on carbon at its source, and send the proceeds back to the taxpayer.”
  
• U.S. in Historic Shift on CO2; Businesses Brace for Costly New Rules as EPA Declares Warming Gases a Threat (by Jonathan Weisman and Siobhan Hughes, Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2009)

For more information:

• See Friends of the Earth online advertising campaign in opposition to the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill moving through Congress.
  
• Read "Why do U.S. environmentalists remain irrationally committed to a losing strategy?"  GRIST blog by Ken Ward, 9 June 2009.
  
• Read letter to House Ways & Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel urging serious changes to the Waxman/Markey "Cap & Trade" bill.  Among the changes requested is a "dividend" provision to rebate money back to American citizens.
  
• Read letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from the Alliance for a Fair and Effective Climate Policy advocating measures to strengthen the Cap & Trade bill before Congress.
  
• Visit www.capanddividend.org
• Read Cap and Dividends fact sheet