On June 26, 2009, the House passed H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES).  This is historic legislation. I supported the ACES bill because I believe that the future of our economy depends on the balancing of environmental protection and economic sustainability and that this legislation represents the most serious and successful effort to date to accomplish this goal.  H.R. 2454 is the product of broad participation from stakeholders of all stripes including environmental groups, industry leaders, labor organizations and citizen advocates, coming together to move America toward energy independence.  

The ACES Act requires that all electric utilities meet 20% of their electricity demand through renewable energy sources and energy efficiency by 2020.  The bill invests $190 billion in new clean energy technologies and energy efficiency, including energy efficiency and renewable energy, carbon capture and sequestration, electric and other advanced technology vehicles, and basic scientific research and development.  Finally, the ACES Act reduces carbon emissions from major U.S. sources by 80% by 2050, in part, by creating a cap-and-trade program for Greenhouse Gases (GHG), as a market incentive-based approach for regulating and reducing emissions.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of the bill found that in 2020 the cap-and-trade program would cost each household approximately $175 a year, or less than the cost of a postage stamp a day.

As with any legislation of this size and importance, it is not perfect.  I authored a letter signed by 47 of my fellow colleagues to the House leadership voicing our concerns and recommendations to strengthen the bill.  I am happy to report that as a result of this letter, a number of additional Green Jobs provisions were added into the legislation.