The chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality today emphasized the Obama administration's intent to mitigate climate change as it pulls the nation out of the biggest economic slump since the 1930s.
As it begins divvying up a $787 billion economic stimulus package -- what some say embodies the largest energy bill in U.S. history -- the Obama administration is pressing Congress to pass a cap-and-trade scheme that will cut U.S. carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases. The president's budget proposal for fiscal 2010, meanwhile, includes more than $75 billion to support the development and deployment of clean energy technologies and services.
"The carbon price signal created by a cap-and-trade system will encourage energy efficiency, the low-hanging fruit of greenhouse gas emissions reductions," CEQ Chairwoman Nancy Sutley said during a carbon markets conference in Washington.
"More importantly, it will also encourage the development and deployment of the clean-energy technologies that will be critical to address climate change, enhance energy security and create jobs that can't be outsourced."
The draft cap-and-trade bill introduced last week by Reps. ...