Status
The House passed its version of a climate/energy bill, the Waxman Markey bill, last year. Several versions of a companion bill have been proposed in the Senate, most recently the Kerry Lieberman bill, but Senate leadership announced last week they would not take up the bill prior to the election and possibly not at all this year. The Senate is now working on a much narrower oil spill liability bill.
On May 12, 2010 Senators Kerry (D-MA) and Lieberman (I-CT) introduced their version of a climate change bill called the "American Power Act". Given that Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (SC) decided to drop off the bill and the off-shore drilling oil spill in the Gulf, it is highly unlikely that this bill will pass in this Congress. However, its policy directions and provisions may form the basis of future bills. Senate leaders are waiting for EPA cost estimates before attempting to bring the bill to the floor.
The vast majority of revenue raised from charging businesses for emitting greenhouse gasses will be refunded back to consumers with some additional revenues used for deficit reduction. It appears that of the revenue raised from the transportation sector, through fees on oil companies, $2.5B would go annually to the Highway Trust Fund, $1.875B to the TIGER discretionary grant program and $1.875B for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Planning Grants.
ARTBA, AASHTO and AGC strongly opposes the Kerry Lieberman bill while others, such as T4America, support the transportation provisions. The biggest concern is that the proposed oil fee would become a de facto gas tax increase which would preempt future efforts to increase the federal gas tax to finance a robust, multi-year highway and transit reauthorization bill.
Previously on April 5 more than two dozen major transportation industry groups including AASHTO, ARTBA, APTA, ACEC, ASCE and several labor unions wrote a joint letter to the senators urging that any revenues derived from fees on the transportation sector be dedicated to the Highway Trust Fund.
Senate
Reports/Studies
- US DOT Greenhouse Gas Report [pdf 6.26MB]