U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett recently shared his national perspective on Austin’s plan and how it may be affected by federal regulation in development. “Our community has been a national leader in encouraging an effective response to climate change,” he said. “Not every specific approach has worked completely, but together all of the various measures have begun to form the type of strategy that other communities should follow.”
He hopes the pending climate bill will be structured to reward early-to-renewable utilities such as Austin Energy. “While Austin may see some benefit from its energy efficiency and alternative energy research provisions,” he observed, “I believe [the currently drafted bill in committee] ultimately suffers from an overdependence on giving away free allowances, or ‘pollute free’ cards, to those responsible for so much of our carbon pollution problem.” Doggett has introduced the Safe Markets Development Act, which he said “proposes an innovative auction mechanism to prevent carbon market speculation and manipulation.” He’s also authored the Green Transit Act, which “mandates that all metropolitan planning organizations follow Senator Kirk Watson’s lead at [the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization] by taking into consideration greenhouse-gas emissions in preparing transportation plans.”
This article appears in June 19 • 2009.