The U.S. Senate now in the driver's seat on climate-change legislation

THE fate of national climate-change legislation — and, by extension, the fate of our planet — now rests in the hands of the U.S. Senate, and Sen. Maria Cantwell is in position to have a key role. We recommend a course of action that rises to this challenge.

After decades of denial and inaction on global warming, Congress is taking action to curtail the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) we're pumping into the atmosphere by burning coal, oil and natural gas. Scientists concur that a steadily rising level of CO2 is responsible for trapping heat, leading to a rise in temperatures worldwide. Should we fail to stop global warming, far-reaching environmental changes will ensue — rising sea levels, shoreline erosion, extinction of species, including important marine fisheries, severe storms, tropical diseases, droughts and famine.

The U.S. House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) on June 26th. Central to this legislation is an approach to CO2 reduction called cap-and-trade. It establishes a limit on the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere — the cap. It also allocates permits for polluters to release CO2. Those who don't use all their permits can sell them to those who need more — the trade.

While this is a significant political achievement, major flaws in the ACES bill should give Sen. Cantwell and her colleagues pause to reconsider.

For starters, the ACES bill would reduce CO2 emissions by only 17 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2020. Too little, too late, many scientists say. Leading climatologist Dr. James Hansen warns that we'll soon reach a tipping point on climate change where it may be impossible to reverse the process.

The other great flaw in this bill is the creation of a trillion-dollar market in carbon futures and derivatives. Sen. Cantwell has publicly expressed serious reservations about this aspect of cap-and-trade, and with good reason. There are parallels with the Enron energy trading and price manipulation that deeply affected our region several years ago. A carbon market opens the door to the kind of speculative investments that contributed to our current economic crisis. In short, if the recent housing bubble was an economic disaster, its sequel — the "carbon bubble" — could be worse.

There is a simpler, more effective approach, one that Sen. Cantwell is in a position to champion. At Citizens Climate Lobby, we call it the carbon tax and dividend. A fee is levied on carbon at the source, and revenue from those fees is returned to consumers through a decrease in payroll or income taxes, thus offsetting higher energy costs.

A steadily increasing tax on carbon makes cleaner sources of energy competitive with fossil fuels. An analysis from the Carbon Tax Center estimates such a tax will reduce CO2 emissions at least 28 percent from 2005 levels by the year 2020.

From an economic standpoint, we would all benefit from the stimulus generated by putting carbon-tax revenue into the pockets of hardworking Americans.

In the effort to pass cap-and-trade, the carbon tax and dividend approach received little attention in the House, even though proposals from both Republicans and Democrats were introduced. To get a fair hearing in the Senate, someone must introduce a Senate version of carbon tax and dividend.

Sen. Cantwell is in a prime position to do this as she chairs the Subcommittee on Energy of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and also sits on the Finance Committee.

As the world faces a major peril from global warming, the U.S. Senate must enact stronger and more effective legislation to bring about near-term reductions in CO2 emissions. Sen. Cantwell is uniquely poised to lead this effort.

Gary Lagerloef is a Seattle-area oceanographer and volunteer with Citizens Climate Lobby. Marshall Saunders is president of Citizens Climate Lobby.