Sen. Lugar Says His Climate Bill Won't Set Price on CO2

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., has drafted new climate and energy legislation, the Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin reported on the Post Carbon blog. The bill would reduce GHG emissions, but it would not set a price on CO2.

In a letter to his fellow senators, Lugar wrote: "Several colleagues have diligently worked on proposals centering on cap and trade. No matter your position on such proposals, I believe that we can have broad bipartisan agreement on the streamlined plan I share with you today. In fact, initial analysis of my plan indicates its implementation would accomplish half of the president's 2020 greenhouse gas emissions goal, thus reducing the carbon-reduction burden of future climate proposals."

The blog stated that under Lugar's bill, GHGs would fall "by 25 percent compared to 2005 levels" by 2030, foreign oil dependence would be slashed by two-thirds and national energy consumption would drop by 14 percent "while simultaneously lowering the average household electric bill by 10 percent."