Overhaul or Scrap Waxman-Markey, Say Climate and Progressive Groups

WASHINGTON, June 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Climate Crisis Coalition, a
non-profit organization founded in 2004 to build awareness and broaden the
constituency of the climate action movement, today released the following
statement regarding the pending American Clean Energy Security Act, which
would create a cap-and-trade system to manage carbon emissions. This statement
has so far been endorsed by the Citizen's Climate Lobby,the CLEAN Coalition,
the Friends Committee on National Legislation and the Progressive Democrats of
America, with other sign-ons pending. For a current list of signatories, see
www.climatecrisiscoalition.org.

Overhaul or Scrap ACESA
The House is scheduled to vote Friday on the "American Clean Energy and
Security Act of 2009." The numerous provisions in ACESA's 1,000-plus pages do
not add up to the steps needed to avert catastrophic climate disruption.
Moreover, the bill's emissions trading provisions create vested interests that
would make future reforms very difficult.

ACESA's Major Flaws:

1) Weak cap. ACESA's "cap" on greenhouse gas emissions represents reductions
of only 1-4% below 1990 levels by 2020, far less than climate scientists deem
necessary.

2) Offsets further weaken the cap. ACESA overwhelms its own cap by allowing up
to two billion tons of dubious carbon "offsets" annually, with up to
three-quarters from international sources. If all offsets are used and
allowances banked, U.S. emissions from fossil fuels could keep increasing
until 2029. ACESA's offsets provisions have been further weakened by the
latest compromise: transferring offset from EPA to the Department of
Agriculture. (The compromise also sabotages EPA efforts to account for
indirect impacts of biofuels production.)

3) Fails to put a meaningful price on carbon. The weak cap combined with
offsets, would result in a price on carbon far too low to produce the changes
in energy use necessary to avert catastrophe. Free allowances to utilities and
energy intensive industries further mute the price signal needed to shift to a
low-carbon economy.

4) Trading combined with "subprime" offsets will lead to speculative bubbles.
ACESA's trading provisions would create a volatile $2 trillion carbon market
with unregulated derivatives that could crash financial markets again. Linking
trading systems internationally would lead to even larger opportunities for
speculation, gaming and fraud.

5) Weak renewable energy standard. ACESA's Renewable Energy Standard (RES) is
watered down to just 15% by 2020, barely greater than "business-as-usual."
Furthermore, ACESA defines "renewable energy" to include dirty sources such as
waste incineration.

6) Handouts for the coal and oil industries. Through free allowances and a
hidden utility tax, the coal industry would receive approximately $150 billion
over the bill's lifetime for "deployment" of carbon capture and sequestration
(CCS) technology that presently doesn't exist and may never materialize. If
feasible, CCS would require far more mining, transportation and burning of
coal to produce electricity. ACESA would also give approximately $24 billion
to oil refiners under the pretext that the world's most profitable industry
needs still more financial assistance.

7) Pre-emption of EPA authority. ACESA would preempt EPA's authority to
regulate sources of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act, while
also overriding stronger laws at the state and regional levels. By disabling
this regulatory backstop, ACESA ensures that - if the bill is not drastically
reformed or replaced - its failure as climate policy will be catastrophic.

Overhaul or scrap ACESA
The climate crisis is urgent, but that is all the more reason not to pass
seriously flawed legislation. We urge Congress to overhaul or scrap ACESA for
a stronger and less complex bill with serious RES standards and a carbon tax
with revenue-recycling, managed price or cap-and-dividend approach.

SOURCE Climate Crisis Coalition

Stephen Kent, +1-845-758-0097, skent@kentcom.com, James Handley,
+1-202-546-5692, jashand@juno.com, for CCC