Carbon Limits and Energy for America's Renewal Act

On  December 11,2009, Senators Maria Cantwell and Susan Collins introduced the Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal Act (CLEAR), legislation to create a cap and dividend system that has a goal of 20% reduction in greenhouse gases emissions by 2020 and 80% reductions by 2050. The legislation has a mandatory cap of 5% below 2012 levels by 2020 and 80% below 2012 levels by 2050. Meant to find new middle ground for the climate change and energy debate, the modestly written CLEAR Act auctions carbon shares that compromise an economy wide carbon cap, allowing each company to decide emissions reductions strategy, but still ensuring the reductions take place.  CLEAR then divides as much as 75% of the revenue generated from auctioning of pollution permits among American households to offset the likely rise in energy costs. The remaining revenues goes into a fund intended to continue energy research and transition to a clean energy economy. CLEAR sets a price on carbon, includes no offsets, and compensates individual households, but unfortunately the emissions cap is too weak to ensure needed emissions reductions in the early years of the program.