Lincoln Cosponsors Bi-Partisan Climate Change Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2007
Contact: Katie Laning, Courtney Rowe
(202) 224-4843

Lincoln Cosponsors Bi-Partisan Climate Change Bill

Washington - U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark), along with, Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) and John McCain (R-Arz) have reintroduced the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act today. The bi-partisan bill proposes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all major sectors of the U.S. economy.

"It has become readily apparent that climate change is real and potentially irreversible if we don't begin to address it soon," said Lincoln. "The burden that we will pass on to future generations grows larger each day that we fail to take action. As we move forward with this legislation, I will continue to work with my colleagues to find a solution to climate change while developing mechanisms within this bill to ensure that our economy remains strong and consumers, particularly in rural areas, are protected from unreasonable rate increases."

The Act aims to use the power of the free market to promote the use of advanced technologies and practices designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It establishes a cap on the emission of greenhouse gasses and creates a market by which to trade credits gained for reducing emissions.

The bill gradually lowers the emissions cap, so that it reaches approximately one third of 2000 levels by 2050. Those long-term reductions will forestall catastrophic, manmade climate change, provided the world's other major economies follow suit within the next decade. The bill also controls compliance costs by allowing companies to trade, save, and borrow emissions credits, and by allowing them to generate "offset" credits by inducing non-covered businesses, farms, and others to reduce their emissions or capture and store greenhouse gases.