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President Obama called a House-passed energy bill "an extraordinary first step" toward tackling climate change and reducing the use of fossil fuels, but he also expressed some reservations about a bit controversial provision that intends to slap tariffs on imports from countries that do not have similar laws. Obama predicts that such measure would spark innovation and jobs, and that its costs to consumers would fall well short of critics' warnings.
According to this new bill power plants, factories and other major emitters would need to either obtain permits for their emissions or invest in "offsets," such as reforestation, that reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This energy bill also includes strict energy efficiency standards and requirements for wind, solar and other renewable electricity use. Regarding provision that aims to penalise imports from nations that fail to cut their emissions in step with the United States, Obama said how "U.S. have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals, especially when global economy is still in deep recession."
Many Republicans have called this new energy bill "a jobs killer" that will push U.S. to even bigger recession. House Republicans attacked the bill as an energy tax that could devastate U.S. families because not only many jobs will be lost but also because it's going to increase the business of living in America. As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said: „We all depend on electricity. I don't think putting clamps on our economy when you know the Chinese and the Indians are not going to do it is a good idea."
On the other hand some environmentalists and many EU members call this energy bill ineffective.
Obama dismissed critics by saying that Republicans issued the same warnings in the time of the Clean Air Act by saying how combat acid rain would send costs soaring and kill jobs that in the end turned out to be false. Obama expects the same thing with new energy bill. Obama really looks determinant to move U.S. energy sector to renewables as much as possible by making grounds for U.S. clean energy future. He also believes that clean energy will not push country into a deeper recession but on the contrary drive the economy forward. What Obama hopes is that clean energy will soon become driving wheel of U.S. economic growth.
Obama also admitted how this energy bill is very unlikely to satisfy EU and many environmentalists that expected bigger emission reduction targets. Many European countries have already criticised this bill for too many concessions to industry but Obama knew that without concessions there's really no chance for new U.S. energy policy.
After all Obama is first of all politician, and not environmentalist, and as he said: "Finding the right balance between providing new incentives to businesses but not giving away the store is always an art; it's not a science. “It's never precise. But on balance, what you have with this legislation is a bill that business can embrace but is tough enough that, by 2020, you will see a significant reduction in carbon emissions."
Whatever you describe this energy bill this is really a historic moment because this is the first time that U.S. took step towards reducing the use of dominant fossil fuels. Whether this energy bill would be enough to completely change U.S. energy policy to more emphasis on renewable energy sector it still remains to be seen.
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