Reps. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Markey (D-Mass.) released a “discussion draft” of “The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009”. The lawmakers subsequently held a number of hearings on the legislation, which outlines their plan to increase the price of oil, coal, and natural gas—the sources of energy we rely on for 85 percent of our energy needs. This page provides readers with the resources necessary to educate themselves about this harmful legislation.
- Waxman and Markey’s summary of the bill is available here.
- The full text of the bill is available here.
The Waxman-Markey energy tax bill contains a number of problematic provisions. At its very core, the bill creates a tax on oil, coal, and natural gas. This map shows the amount of these carbon-based sources of energy your state uses.
Cap and trade
Cap and trade mandates that Americans reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent below 2005 by 2020, 40 percent below 2005 by 2030, and 83 percent below 2005 by 2050. The title includes a cap and trade energy tax program, but does not specify important aspects of the program yet.
- For more information on the harmful impacts of cap and trade, here’s the Institute for Energy Research’s Cap and Trade Primer.
- A study from MIT estimates the cost of Waxman-Markey’s cap and trade program to be over $3100 per family.
Low carbon fuel mandate
The bill includes a mandate called a “low carbon fuel standard,” which requires refiners to reduce gasoline’s carbon intensity. This flawed plan not only discriminates against America’s vast oil shale resources, Canada’s vast oil sands resources, but even favors Middle Eastern crude.
- For more information on low carbon fuels mandates, here’s the Institute for Energy Research’s primer on low carbon fuel standards.
Renewable electricity mandate
The Waxman-Markey bill also contains a renewable portfolio standard, also called a renewable electricity standard. This mandate requires that utilities sell a certain percentage of “renewable” electricity. This mandate increases the price of electricity, as it requires consumers to purchase electricity from only the most expensive, least available, but politically preferred energy sources: wind, solar, and switchgrass.
The premise behind this mandate, and indeed the entire bill itself, is that the U.S. must drastically reduce its carbon dioxide emissions in order to avoid the alleged “catastrophic” effects of man-made global warming. Given this fundamental argument, one might reasonably assume that carbon-free nuclear and hydropower– which account for nearly all of our carbon-free electricity and more than 25 percent of all the electricity we used in 2008–would count as “clean, renewable” electricity under the Waxman-Markey “clean-renewable” electricity mandate. But they don’t count. And neither does nearly 20 percent of the electricity we get from “renewable biomass.”
In fact, less than 2.8 percent of the nation’s total electricity generation from all sources meets the Waxman–Markey definition of renewable. If that sounds bad, consider how much of the electricity used in states like Ohio meets the Waxman-Markey mandate: 0.0 percent.
What happens when utilities don’t meet their 25 percent “renewable” mandate? They get fined. How will utilities pay for the fines? By increasing electricity prices…
NOTE: The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is currently considering a “renewable” electricity mandate that closely mirrors the Waxman-Markey mandate. One might reasonably assume that nuclear and hydropower, which provide 25.5 percent of our electricity and nearly all of our carbon-free electricity, would count as “clean, renewable” energy under any Federal mandate for “clean, renewable” electricity… But they don’t count. And nearly 20 percent of the electricity we get from “renewable” biomass doesn’t count either… The percentages above represent the amount of each state’s electricity in 2008 that meets Congress’s proposed definition of “clean, renewable” energy.
