Legislation puts a price on pollution

Q: What’s the purpose of this legislation?

A: To reduce the gases linked to global warming and to force sources for power to shift away from fossil fuels, which when burned release heat-trapping gases, and toward cleaner sources of energy such as wind, solar and geothermal.

Q: How does the bill do this?

A: By placing the national limits on emissions of heat-trapping gases from major sources such as power plants, refineries and factories. This limit effectively puts a price on the pollution, raising the cost for companies to continue to use fuels and electricity sources that contribute to global warming. This gives them an incentive to seek cleaner options.

Q: Is this the “cap-and-trade” idea that has been in the news?

A: Yes. The first step in a cap-and-trade program sets a limit on the amount of gases that can be released into the atmosphere. That is the cap. Companies with facilities that are covered by the cap will then receive permits for their share of the pollution, an annual pollution allowance. This bill initially would give the bulk of the permits away for free to help ease costs, but they still would have value because there would be a limited supply. Companies that do not get a big enough allowance to cover their pollution would either have to find ways to reduce it, which can be expensive, or buy additional permits from companies that have reduced pollution enough to have allowances left over. That is the trade.

Q: Under the bill, what will happen to companies that do not follow the rules?

A: If they exceed their limit, they have to pay a fine equal to twice the cap-and-trade price for each ton of pollution over the limit.

Q: Other than costs potentially being passed along to consumers, will this affect most Americans’ day-to-day lives?

A: It fundamentally will change how we use, produce and consume energy, ending the country’s love affair with big gas-guzzling cars and its insatiable appetite for cheap electricity. This bill will put smaller, more efficient cars on the road and transform the appliances you can buy.

Q: How did Georgia’s House delegates vote?

A: Voting yes: Democrats Sanford Bishop, Hank Johnson, John Lewis and David Scott. Voting no: Republicans Paul Broun, Nathan Deal, Phil Gingrey, Jack Kingston, John Linder, Tom Price and Lynn Westmoreland, and Democrats John Barrow and Jim Marshall.