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Klobuchar's Greenhouse Gas Registry Measure Gains Momentum

Says Passage of Carbon Counter Bill is a Critical First Step in Combating Climate Change

September 18, 2008

Washington, D.C. – U. S. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s legislation to establish a National Greenhouse Gas Registry cleared a major legislative hurdle when the measure was passed by the Committee on Environment and Public Works. The bill would create a national system for measuring greenhouse gas emissions, a crucial first step to combat climate chance.

“I’ve been involved in public policy long enough to know that you can’t fix a problem if you can’t measure it accurately,’’ Klobuchar said. “Today’s vote goes a long way to making sure we have full and accurate information about the sources and amounts of greenhouse gas pollution.”

The national carbon registry provision, which Klobuchar authored with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), would require the Environmental Protection Agency to collect comprehensive carbon emissions data from every facility in the country that emits more than 10,0000 metric tons of greenhouse gases per year.  Klobuchar introduced the bill in May of 2007 and it passed out of the Environment and Public Works Committee as the first title of the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2007.  The Committee today passed it as a standalone bill in an attempt to pass it before Congress adjourns.

Currently 39 states have established various forms of carbon registries, but there is no one comprehensive national registry. Klobuchar said the current system results in incomplete and inconsistent data, which undermines the effort to establish a comprehensive, national mechanism to cap and reduce carbon emissions. The Lieberman-Warner bill would require significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, using a “cap and trade’’ system that allows the private sector to achieve reductions efficiently using market forces.

Last year, a group of leading business executives, including representatives of DuPont, Duke Energy, Boston Scientific, General Electric and Alcoa, testified before the Environment and Public Works Committee about the dangers of global warming and asked Congress to pass a comprehensive, science-based system to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Klobuchar also noted that comprehensive climate change legislation has the potential to create thousands of good new jobs by triggering investments in clean, renewable energy and energy-conservation technology.

A study last year by the Apollo Alliance found that a comprehensive strategy to develop conservation technologies and reduce greenhouse gas emissions could create as many as three million new jobs in the next decade.

“The question we face is this: Does the United States want to be a leader in creating the new green technologies and the new green jobs of the future? I’m determined that we will be a leader,’’ Klobuchar said. “By adopting strong, sensible climate change legislation, we can open the door to a world of opportunities for jobs and investment in clean, alternative energy.’’

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