There are two major pieces of energy legislation under consideration in Congress at the moment.
In the House, the American Clean Energy
Security (ACES) ACT – aka, Waxman/ Markey - has passed a key committee vote, and is now facing mark-ups by several additional committees, primarily Agriculture, Ways and Means, Science and Technology,
and Natural Resources. A floor vote could occur as early as mid-June, or it could also take as long as after the July 4 recess.
The Senate is continuing to put together its bill, known informally as the Bingaman bill. The federal RES in the bill has already gone through a significant mark-up. Kansas’s Senator Sam Brownback sits on the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee, and his vote was key in getting the RES portion
passed. As of mid-June, the entire Bingaman bill has passed out of Senate Energy by a 15-8 vote, and is awaiting the next step in the process - which may well depend on the fate of Waxman-Markey.
One of the key components of both bills is a federal renewable energy standard (RES). The proposed standards are different. The House version has higher targets than the Senate version, but neither is considered strong enough to stimulate significant renewables development.
No comprehensive summary yet exists for the unfinished Senate bill, but there are several for ACES/ Waxman-Markey. Check out these resources:
Grist – bullet point summary
NRDC – detailed summary
|
