Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
2/27/2015
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) this week re-introduced a bill that would require the purchase of carbon permits by covered sources and distribute the proceeds of these purchases to Americans in the form of a quarterly dividend. The bill is similar to legislation introduced by Van Hollen last year, which died in committee, with targets shifted slightly to address the later date. Under the new version of the bill, coal mines, oil refineries, natural gas processors and any importers of coal, petroleum and petroleum products would have to purchase carbon permits beginning in 2017. Proceeds would then be distrusted to the pubic via the “Healthy Climate Dividend” instituted by the bill. “Two of the most pressing challenges we face as a country are the economic and health risks of climate change and the middle class squeeze, and this bill offers a way to address both,” Van Hollen said in a release. “This approach achieves necessary greenhouse gas reductions while boosting the purchasing power of families across the country. This bill is good for the climate, good for families, and good for the economy.”
The bill would develop a declining cap on carbon to reduce CO2 emissions gradually, eventually reaching an 80 percent reduction below 2005 levels by 2050. The bill lays out a reduction schedule with an initial target decrease of 12.5 percent below 2005 levels set for 2017. From that point, target reductions fall to 20 percent in 2020 and an additional 10 percent each decade to 2050 at which point emissions should “be equal to 80 percent less than the number of metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted in the United States in 2005.” Auctions would be held quarterly.
