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Sen. Kerry wavers on backing for cap-and-trade bill in Copenhagen
Sen.
John Kerry wavered Wednesday on whether Congress will accept a cap-and-trade
system for controlling carbon emissions.
Kerry (D-Mass.) told reporters at the climate change summit in Copenhagen that he isn’t sure what system Congress will endorse for setting the prices companies will pay for carbon emissions.
Kerry and other advocates of greenhouse gas curbs say it is vital to create a system that makes industries pay for carbon emissions in order to reduce them and spur the development of green energies.
“I
can’t tell you the method or the means, amount, by which we might price carbon.
I can’t tell you that. We have not resolved that issue yet,” Kerry said at a
press conference after his speech at the international climate summit.
He expressed confidence that the Senate will follow the House in approving a major climate and energy bill, but linked the Senate’s success to international negotiators reaching a deal this week in Copenhagen.
“Success in Copenhagen is really critical to success next year in the United States Senate, in the Congress,” he said.
Kerry,
who helms the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, co-sponsored cap-and-trade
legislation with Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara
Boxer (D-Calif.).
Aside from former Vice President Al Gore, Kerry is the first major political
figure from the U.S. to address the summit. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton will be in Copenhagen on Thursday, while President Barack Obama is
scheduled to attend talks on Friday.
Kerry said there are competing views about whether a carbon tax, cap-and-trade or another method is the best option for controlling emissions. “I can’t sit here and predict it will have the pricing mechanism on carbon that I want,” he said.
The bill Kerry sponsored with Boxer faces huge hurdles,
but Kerry is also working with Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey
Graham (R-S.C.) on a compromise climate and energy plan that blends emissions
curbs with wider offshore oil-and-gas drilling and expanded federal financing
for nuclear power plants.
A broadly worded framework the three released last week doesn’t say
“cap-and-trade” specifically but strongly suggests it, calling for a
“market-based” system with robust carbon market oversight.
At a Dec. 10 press conference in the Capitol about the framework,
Lieberman called it the “market-based system for punishing polluters previously
known as cap-and-trade."
Update: Kerry clarified his comments during a gaggle with reporters after his on-camera press conference, according to a Kerry aide in Copenhagen. "I'm just telling you there's going to be a movement next year to get something done on this, and I think it's going to include some kind of trading mechanism," Kerry said, according to the aide. Kerry added that there are "plenty of ways to do it."
This post was updated at 4:06 p.m.
