Link Roundup: The American Power Act, Our Country's New Energy Bill
If you haven't already heard, today Senator John Kerry (remember him?) introduced the strategically-named American Power Act. It's our new energy and climate bill. Prepare for another crazy round of wrangling in the senate.
In the meantime, here are some links to help you form an opinion.
Over at the Huffington Post, Kerry introduces the bill. It's basically a cap-and-trade policy (here's a refresher on what that means). Kerry says it will "reduce harmful emissions by 17 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050." Two thirds of the money that's raised from pollution permits is going back to consumers through energy bill discounts or rebates.
At Politico, Jeanne Cummings looks at all the tax breaks in the bill: it inclues $7 billion in incentives to expand the natural gas fuel market and develop electric car technology, $2 billion in incentives for clean coal, and hundreds of millions for nuclear power.
In a handy chart, Brad Johnson compares the bill to Obama's climate bill and to the Waxman-Markey bill that passed in the House.
Grist's Dave Roberts examines the bill's chances of passing: "I think the chances are roughly as good as they've ever been in the Senate: low but non-trivial."
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