Senator Amy Klobuchar

Working for the People of Minnesota

Press Contact

Joel Gross
Press Secretary
(202) 224-3244

News Releases

Senators Klobuchar and Snowe Include 'Carbon Counter' in Global Warming Legislation

Measure would implement first nationwide greenhouse gas reporting registry

October 18, 2007

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Olympia Snowe successfully included their ‘carbon counter’ language as part of the America’s Climate Security Act, S. 2191, announced today by authors Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.).  The Klobuchar-Snowe provision would lay the foundation for a national greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program.  While the overall bill seeks to implement first nationwide cap-and-trade program in the United States, the bill needs the Klobuchar-Snowe proposal to produce accurate and uniform data from which to implement the cap-and-trade program.  The Klobuchar-Snowe bill is the first title in the Lieberman-Warner bill.

“The success of a cap-and-trade program hinges on having an accurate system of monitoring, verifying and reporting greenhouse gas emission,” said Klobuchar.  “Greenhouse gas emissions are a global problem, and if we can’t measure it, we can’t fix it.  If Weight Watchers can have a calorie counter, we can have a carbon counter."

“The Greenhouse Gas Registry is absolutely fundamental to any climate proposal by creating a comprehensive and uniform assessment of the origin of our domestic manmade greenhouse gas emissions,” Sen. Snowe said. “This is an essential component to any climate change legislation and I am encouraged that this will be maintained in any proposal that is passes the Environment and Public Works Committee.”

America’s Climate Security Act would provide a cap-and-trade strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2050. In doing so, it establishes useful rules for investors and businesses, many of whom have been seeking clear, long-term U.S. goals to guide their decisions domestically and internationally.

Klobuchar is an original cosponsor of the America’s Climate Security Act, which is expected to be the building block for all future action that the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee takes this Congress.  EPW is expected to mark-up the bill by mid-November.

Senator Klobuchar serves as a member on the EPW Committee and Senator Snowe has been on the forefront of climate change issues in the Senate since 2003 and in 2005 cochaired the International Climate Change Taskforce. 

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