Isramart : U.S. Carbon Law Still Possible This Year, Carper Says

Isramart news:
Legislation to set up a U.S. cap- and-trade market for carbon dioxide that scientists have linked to climate change may still pass Congress this year, Senator Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat, said today.

“We actually have a shot at doing an economy-wide climate bill,” Carper said in Washington at an event hosted by the International Emissions Trading Association.

President Barack Obama’s “embrace” of electricity produced by nuclear reactors, his support for technology that captures and stores carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants and his “willingness to work with Republicans” on expanding offshore oil and gas drilling has “changed the dynamic” of the debate over climate change in Congress, Carper said.

“I don’t think it’s likely but it’s possible now,” Carper told reporters afterward.

Cap-and-trade legislation that passed the U.S. House last year has stalled in the Senate. Republicans and some Democrats have said the legislation will hurt the economy’s recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Under cap-and-trade, the federal government would regulate the emissions produced from burning coal, oil and natural gas and allow companies to buy and sell pollution rights.

While the cap-and-trade legislation was “pretty much dead” at the end of 2009, Obama has “breathed fresh life into it,” Carper said.