Offsets and the House Climate and Energy Bill

While the American Clean Energy and Security Act that passed through the House of Representatives last week has a number of laudable provisions on the energy side of the bill, International Rivers has major concerns with the climate provisions in the bill.  The short-term emission reduction target is much weaker than what the latest science demands and the large number of permissable offsets blows the target to pieces.

As the bill snaked through the House of Representatives, the offsets provisions were further weakened.  These include removing discounting of domestic offsets, increasing the maximum allowable quantity of international offsets to 1.5 billion, up from 1 billion, and giving the USDA authority to regulate domestic offsets, rather than the EPA. International Rivers will be working to ensure that the Senate bill sets stronger emission reduction targets and limits the use of offsets.