Climate Change Bill Up Today

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander says a proposed climate change bill unfairly targets manufacturers.

Alexander is a member of the Senate Environment Committee, which, for the first time today, will hear a climate change bill that could impact the entire economy.

Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman and Virginia Senator John Warner are pushing for nationwide caps on emissions that would allow companies to trade emissions allowances, but also get credit for investments in reducing greenhouse gases.

Alexander says reducing emissions is important, but is unfair to some industries.

“I’m not ready yet to support the Warner-Lieberman bill. It puts on a so-called economy-wide cap, and I think we should be careful about that to make sure we don’t run up the costs of electricity or the cost of gasoline so much that we run jobs out of Tennessee or out of the United States.”

Alexander says he supports limits on coal-fired power plant emissions, and limits from gasoline.