Everything you always wanted to know about the Waxman-Markey energy/climate bill

You gotta love Kate Sheppard for breaking it down in plain English.

"You keep hearing about the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill—aka the American Clean Energy and Security Act, ACES, H.R. 2454—but what’s actually in it? We combed through the 946-page beast so you don’t have to.

Here are the highlights of the bill, which is sponsored by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and was passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on May 21.
Renewable electricity standard

The bill creates a renewable electricity standard (RES) that would require large utilities in each state to produce an increasing percentage of their electricity from renewable sources. Qualifying renewable sources are wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, marine and hydrokinetic energy, biogas and biofuels derived exclusively from eligible biomass, landfill gas, wastewater-treatment gas, coal-mine methane, hydropower projects built after 1992, and some waste-to-energy projects.

The RES:

* Requires 6 percent of electricity to come from renewables by 2012
* Requires 20 percent of electricity to come from renewables by 2020
* Up to 5 percent can actually come from efficiency improvements
* If a state determines that its utilities cannot meet the target, the efficiency component can be increased to 8 percent and the renewable component decreased to 12 percent

Emission cuts

The bill would put a cap on emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases, and would require high-emitting industries to reduce their output to specific targets between now and the middle of the century. (This is the “cap” part of the “cap-and-trade” program.) The bill covers 85 percent of the overall economy, including electricity producers, oil refineries, natural gas suppliers, and energy-intensive industries like iron, steel, cement, and paper manufacturers.

* Emission cuts would start in 2012
* The cap-and-trade program would be completely phased in by 2016

The goals for U.S. emission reductions, below 2005 levels:

* 3 percent cut by 2012
* 17 percent cut by 2020
* 42 percent cut by 2030
* more than 80 percent cut by 2050"

The rest of the article is at the link...