The Capital Times
By: Anita Weier
2/12/2008

Democratic Rep. Tammy Baldwin says a cap-and-trade system -- which would limit total greenhouse gas emissions but allow energy users to buy and sell the right to spew out heat-trapping gases -- will be the cornerstone of U.S. efforts to halt global warming.

Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner says that cap-and-trade is more dangerous than climate change itself.

The two Wisconsin members of the U.S. Congress presented their widely varying views during separate speeches at a Future of Midwest Energy Coping with Climate Change Conference presented by Wispolitics.com at Monona Terrace on Monday.

Some others at the conference favored a carbon tax or price that would lead to a meaningful reduction in the use of fossil fuels. Some favored more nuclear plants. But most panelists stressed that quick action by Congress is essential.

Aging power plants could be replaced with cleaner, more efficient models, but owners hesitate to spend millions of dollars without knowing federal policy, said Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member Philip Moeller. "The uncertainty has to be addressed," he said.

"We all know that global warming is real and that it's an issue we should take seriously, but we should also approach global warming wisely," Sensenbrenner said.

"In Congress, there is clamoring for a legislative solution and some members think they've found one in a cap-and-trade solution. What they've found is a job killer."

Under cap-and-trade, a total limit would be placed on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions and economy-wide allocations would be given or sold to emitters. Companies that are able to keep their emissions under their allocation could sell their savings, or credits, to companies that could not.

The total cap would be reduced over the years to reduce the greenhouse gases that trap heat near the Earth.

The result, according to Sensenbrenner, would be soaring electricity costs and the loss of jobs to China and India or other countries that do not reduce emissions.

"We cannot use the actions -- or inactions -- of developing nations as an excuse for our behavior," Baldwin said, adding that Congress is moving toward cap-and-trade. She also promised that a climate control law will include a provision to encourage developing countries to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

"What is clear is that we are laying the groundwork for the 111th session and our 44th president whom, I believe, will lead the nation toward solutions that reduce our greenhouse gas emissions," she said.

"Whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or John McCain or even Mike Huckabee is president, with a Democratic Congress climate change will be acknowledged and confronted with mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions."

Sensenbrenner alleged that cap-and-trade has not reduced carbon emissions in Europe because carbon credits are often awarded there based on emissions reductions in other parts of the world, sometimes for projects that would have occurred anyway.

"Many European nations are simply outsourcing their greenhouse gas reductions to other nations," he said. "The U.K estimates that two-thirds of its future emission reductions will occur not just outside of the U.S. but outside of the European Union."

Sensenbrenner contends that the solution to climate change lies in technology, and that the United States should devote its efforts to research and development of technological solutions.

"Significant greenhouse gas reductions will occur only when the technology is readily available and relatively inexpensive," he said. "That includes renewable technologies like wind and solar power. But that should also include proven greenhouse gas reducing technologies like nuclear power, which supplies about 20 percent of Wisconsin's electricity."

Baldwin said that extending tax credits and investment tax credits for renewable energy sources is essential, as is reducing subsidies for the oil industry.

She added that state and regional efforts ndsh including those in Wisconsin led by Gov. Jim Doyle that have set timetables for increasing use of renewable energy ndsh are leading the way toward control of greenhouse gases.

"Our state government, municipalities and schools are taking meaningful steps," she said. "Gaylord Nelson would have been proud. He knew it would be the people, not the politicians, who put the environment on stage."
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