We need to do more to clean the air in Delaware and the rest of the country as well as to address what is probably the most important issue of our time -- global warming.

Dirty air is especially troublesome for the 70,000 Delaware residents with asthma. Air pollution has a real effect on asthma sufferers, as they cannot spend as much time outdoors and they face an increased chance of health complications due to pollution in the air. We also need to take steps to reduce the amount of mercury in our water and food supply, as mercury has been shown to increase the chance of birth defects in newborns.

That is why, as the ranking Democrat on the Clean Air Subcommittee, I have introduced the Clean Air Planning Act of 2006. CAPA, as it is commonly called, would force old power plants to modernize and reduce their pollution levels, provide incentives to build new, cleaner power plants, and begin to address climate change in a meaningful and cost-effective way.

CAPA is the only legislation of its kind that has attracted support from utilities, environmental groups, and what I call the “bipartisan” middle ground in the U.S. Senate. There are a lot of people who say we can’t achieve consensus on environmental legislation any more. To them, I say, look at this bill. This is consensus legislation. It’s common-sense legislation. And it’s forward-looking legislation.

Specifically, the Clean Air Planning Act of 2006 would:

• Reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent at every power plant in the country by 2015;
  
• Reduce nitrogen oxide by almost 68 percent by 2015. The bill would set up a cap-and-trade program to reduce NOx but would split the country into Eastern and Western zones to better combat smog problems. For example, if a power plant is in the Eastern zone, it would either have to reduce emissions or buy pollution credits from another Eastern zone plant, not from a plant in the West. This would help ensure that NOx pollution is reduced in the area where it causes the most health and environmental problems.
  
• Reduce sulfur dioxide by more than 82 percent by 2015. The bill would set up a cap-and-trade program for SO2. The cap is the most stringent of all the competing clean air bills.
  
• Cap carbon dioxide emissions from power plants at 2006 levels by 2010 and reduce them to 2001 levels by 2015. Power plants could meet these new requirements either by reducing their own CO2 emissions or buying CO2 “credits” on the open market from other industries that can more cheaply reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Recent EPA modeling of this cap-and-trade CO2 program for utilities shows that it would only cost $1 a ton to reduce carbon emissions.