The US climate change bill expected to be unveiled today contains incentives to spur the building of a dozen nuclear power plants, but delays emissions caps on plants that emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, industry sources said on Friday.
The draft bill, led by Democratic Senator John Kerry, has loan guarantees, protection against regulatory delays and other incentives to help companies finance nuclear plants, which can cost US$5 billion to US$10 billion to build, the sources said.
“I think it’s a start that combined with a price on carbon” could help the nuclear companies build new capacity, said one source who had been briefed on a call held by Kerry on Thursday night with industry representatives.
Nuclear power plants emit almost no carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. But no new plants have won government approval in three decades, partially due to the high costs.
The compromise bill, also being written by Senators Lindsey Graham, a Republican, and Joseph Lieberman, an independent, is easier on big polluters than previous legislation.
The senators face a narrowing window of opportunity to win the necessary 60 votes to avoid procedural hurdles ahead of congressional elections in November.
The bill contains a cap on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that would begin in 2013, a year later than had been outlined in previous legislation, the source said.
The draft also takes a sector by sector approach rather than creating an economy-wide market for emissions, an approach favored in the climate bill which already cleared the House of Representatives in June.
The bill would create a regulated market in which polluters and speculators would be allowed to buy and sell emissions permits. Polluters who cut emissions would earn permits they could sell.
Initially the price of permits in that market would be limited to a maximum of US$22.68 per tonne, to help reduce costs for polluters. Previously the senators had been aiming for a price ceiling of US$27.21 a tonne.
Even with the breaks, however, the bill seeks to reduce US emissions 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels, the same level that has been talked about for months. It is also about the level of cuts that US President Barack Obama favors.
One environmentalist said breaks in the bill may help win support needed from senators.
Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, said the bill will likely contain items considered necessary to get votes.
Asked whether the bill might be too weak from an environmental standpoint in order to lure Republican support, Claussen said: “No. People whose major concern is climate change have to temper their ambitions.”
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