Pricing Carbon Emissions A bill before Congress may prove a
costly way to reduce greenhouse gases. - Friday, June 5, 2009 -
By Kevin Bullis Experts are applauding a sweeping energy bill
currently before the United States Congress, saying that it
could lead to significant cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions and
improve the likelihood of a comprehensive international
agreement to cut greenhouse gases. "It's real climate-change
legislation that's being taken seriously," says Gilbert Metcalf,
a professor of economics at Tufts University. But many warn that
the bill's market-based mechanisms and more conventional
regulations could make these emissions reductions more expensive
than they need to be. The bill, officially called the American
Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, is also referred to as
the Waxman-Markey Bill, after its sponsors, Henry Waxman (D-Ca.)
and Edward Markey (D-Mass.). The legislation would establish a
cap and trade system to reduce greenhouse gases, an approach
favored by most economists over