Draft Cap and Trade Legislation

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has released draft cap-and-trade legislation. On the key issue of whether allowances will be allocated by the government or auctioned, the draft legislation incorporates a range of possible alternatives, from mostly allocated to all auctioned. Under the latter scenario, 17.5 percent of the auction proceeds would be used to reduce the federal deficit with the rest distributed to consumers, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction measures, and 0.5 percent for "management" -- federal agency management of the program.

-Morgan