Honor Thy Mother Earth

The New York Times reports that the U.S. Senate began debate yesterday on a bill to control climate climate change.

Senate Opens Debate on Politically Risky Bill Addressing Global Warming

The proposed legislation would cap production of greenhouse gases and force polluters to buy permits to account for their emissions.

The basic cap-and-trade policy underlying the bill is supported by all three remaining presidential candidates, but would increase energy prices at a time when Americans are paying more than ever for fuel.

According to the Times:

The measure would reduce American production of climate-altering gases by nearly 70 percent from current levels by 2050. It would provide billions of dollars in subsidies for energy conservation and environmentally clean technologies, creating millions of jobs, proponents say.

The sale of the permits would raise more than $5 trillion for the government in the coming decades, money that the bill proposes to distribute to affected industries, consumers and local governments in one of the biggest programs of redistribution of American wealth in history. The bill’s proponents say the money would help pay for a technological leap that would create millions of new jobs while cleaning the atmosphere.

Debate of the bill could last the rest of the week. Most experts would be surprised to see any action taken on the bill at this time, however. Proponents of this type of change and opponents of this bill alike have expressed concerns about whether this is the right time to enact such far reaching legislation.

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