Huffman seeks law to establish greenhouse gas analysis of proposed bills

November 21, 2014

Rep. Jared Huffman has introduced legislation that would keep an accounting of the carbon footprint that would result from passage of every bill considered by Congress.

Huffman's bill, HR 5733, would require the Congressional Budget Office to estimate and report the projected carbon footprint — greenhouse gas emissions — stemming from all congressional legislation.

"This bill would provide Congress and the American public with nonpartisan, objective information on how legislation would help or hinder our efforts to decrease carbon emissions and fight climate change," said Huffman, D-San Rafael. "Just as each bill's projected financial impact is of importance, the total carbon impact should be a serious consideration for lawmakers."

As outlined, Huffman's Carbon Pollution Transparency Act of 2014 would provide such carbon footprint information via the budget office, a politically neutral body.

The office already provides long-term financial forecasting on bills that go before Congress.

The act would require a carbon score with every analysis of a submitted bill. The carbon impact data would have to be submitted along with a financial analysis that is now required under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

The carbon score would be based on a level of emissions likely to result from the activities required to carry out the bill. The estimates would use established best practices, including a cradle-to-grave analysis of the impact of a bill on global warming.

Lastly, the bill authorizes spending to allow the budget office "to develop the expertise and capacity required to carry out the analyses required."

The bill has been referred to the House of Representatives' Committee on Rules and to the Committee on the Budget. The same bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont.

Kevin Krick, chairman of the Marin Republican Party, said Huffman's goals are laudable but the wrong way to go about reducing carbon emissions.

"What it does is generate a layer of bureaucracy and red tape," he said. "The government is not an industry where you can have tight control over operations where this would be effective. This type of bill is more like trench warfare that creates a stalemate on the issue."

Nona Dennis, first vice president of the Marin Conservation League, applauded the bill.

"It sounds like a great idea and long overdue," she said. "It's important that we understand the implications of these bills and projects on the environment. Of course they would need the expertise to do an evaluation from beginning to end."

Given that Congress will be controlled by Republicans in the new year, Huffman has a more than uphill battle to get his legislation passed.

But he said such a bill is important because it could affect debate on issues that would have an impact on global warming.

"If this bill were law, I have a hunch that many members of the Senate might think twice about voting 'yea' on the Keystone XL (oil) pipeline bill," he said.


Source: By Mark Prado