The Beginnings of the Energy Bill: Here We Go!

From the NYT:

Two senior House Democrats will unveil a 600-page draft global warming and energy bill today that they hope will prompt an intense round of internal negotiations, culminating with passage out of the Energy and Commerce Committee before June, according to several lawmakers and off-the-Hill sources briefed on the measure.

The bill from Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) includes four separate titles aimed at overhauling U.S. climate and energy policy, starting with a cap-and-trade program that sets mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions over the next four decades.

Waxman and Markey – tough customers on nuclear, but there’s wind at the back of the solar radiance that is, uh, nuclear. So we’ll see.

Here are some dates to put on your calendar:

Waxman and Markey also unveiled a preliminary schedule for moving the legislation, starting with hearings on the bill during the week of April 20 as lawmakers return from a two-week spring recess. A subcommittee markup is penciled in for the week of April 27, with a full committee markup to follow during the week of May 11.

The story only quotes Democrats who feel this will sail smoothly through Congress problem-free. And Pangloss felt we live in the best of all possible worlds.

Early days: if you look at the posts below about Reps. Bachmann and Shimkus and then read this:

Both the Waxman-Markey draft and Obama's plan [on cap-and-trade] do line up on a midcentury target curbing emissions by 83 percent. But the House lawmakers offer more specifics than the new administration when it comes to the cap-and-trade program's start in 2012. The Democrats call for a 3 percent emissions cut from 2005 levels. They also include a 42 percent reduction in 2030.

You would be right in thinking that, at the least, there will be some heated discussions.

Lots more to come about this in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned.

Rep. Henry Waxman.