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The Case for ACES

June 24, 2009

The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), which the House is scheduled to vote upon this Friday, totals some 1,200 pages.

In a perfect world, the bill would have taken up no more than 10 pages. It would set a price on carbon, sell all emissions allowances to a manageable set of large fossil fuel producers and importers, and return the proceeds to the taxpayers in the form of rebates or tax reductions.

It would be easy to explain: We must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by putting a price on carbon and driving energy markets towards low-carbon alternatives. To keep people whole and build support for the program, we must return the proceeds of higher energy prices to the taxpayers.

We don’t live in a perfect world. Getting a handle on climate change means reworking a highly capital-intensive energy system that depends on abundant and portable fossil fuels that, unfortunately, emit a great deal of heat-trapping carbon dioxide.  

That makeover will affect every nook and cranny of the world’s biggest, most complex economy. It will affect the lives of people, communities, and businesses in a thousand and one ways, so it’s entirely unsurprising that accommodations for umpteen interests were made in the House bill.

As a result, the cap-and-trade system that the bill would establish to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is one of many moving parts. If the bill is enacted and implemented, there is little doubt that there will be unintended and unforeseen consequences that follow from its complexity.

When all is said and done, however, climate change will not go away. It is here. It will become bigger and more difficult and costly to deal with the longer that we wait to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The conservative course of action is to face facts and to take prudent actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We owe it to our country and our country’s future citizens to be good stewards.

It’s time to act, before Congress moves on to other issues and the distractions of the 2010 election cycle set in. For all its faults, the American Clean Energy and Security Act is the only game in town. The House should pass it and send it on its way to the Senate, where there will be further opportunities to improve the bill.