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House Passes Climate Bill, Now for the Senate

US CapitolLast night, the US House of Representatives passed climate legislation to get greenhouse gas emissions falling to 83% below 2005 levels in 2050. This step is huge, and needs to be followed by a similar bill passing the Senate in the weeks ahead to get the President’s signature and become law. Here are some details from the Solar Energy Industries Association:
“Dear SEIA Member,

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) by a vote of 219 to 212.  This is the first time that climate change legislation has passed either house of Congress.  The historic nature of this achievement cannot be understated.  Today, the House sent a clear signal to financial markets and investors that there will be a premium on zero-carbon energy production in the 21st century U.S. economy.  The time to diversify our energy resources and expand clean, pollution-free solar energy is upon us.

This bill had several provisions that will benefit the solar industry.  You can view the text of the full bill and the manager’s amendment on SEIA’s website.  SEIA also has an in-depth summary of the bill available on the website.  Also, see SEIA’s statement on passage of the bill.  Some of the most significant solar provisions include:

  • RPS: 20 percent by 2020
  • Renewable energy and energy efficiency industries receive 9.5 percent of carbon allowances
  • Transmission: regional transmission grid planning and federal siting authority
  • 20-year Federal Power Purchase Authority
  • Establishment of a Clean Energy Deployment Administration to aid the domestic development and deployment of renewable technologies including solar.
While today’s vote is an historic achievement, it is only the beginning of a long process to enact clean energy and climate change legislation into law.  The next step will be improving this legislation in the Senate where we expect a contentious debate.  In the coming months, we will be calling on SEIA members to help us in our advocacy efforts as the Senate crafts their version of energy and climate legislation.

But today, we celebrate.  This is a big win for solar and the other renewable sectors.  We are truly entering the clean energy era!

Have a good weekend.

Rhone Resch
SEIA President and CEO”

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This entry was posted on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 at 9:04 am and is filed under Climate Change, Daily Recap, Solar, federal policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “House Passes Climate Bill, Now for the Senate”

  1. Crude Oil Trader says:
    June 27, 2009 at 5:33 pm

    The Southern Democrats are going to squash this. I feel it in my bones!

  2. Sean Caye says:
    June 29, 2009 at 9:23 am

    http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/111/house/1/477

    Democrat no votes are spread out. North Carolina (my home) has 2, in very rural districts, which is the same as New York and less than Pennsylvania. Our senate votes will be most likely 1 (D) for and 1 (R) against.

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