It's time to revisit this feature; or, since I've never written it before, to visit it.
The basic question is: will the administration and Congress make significant progress towards a national emissions trading and cap system by the end of the year?
Based on reporting and reading, my guess is that the answer is -- probably not.
The House will move the bill; Rep. Henry Waxman intends to get it out of his committee by Memorial Day, as Dan Weiss tells us below.
But action in the Senate will be stalled for a while. Some powerful senators aren't sold that it's the best thing to do quickly.
And the Obama administration does not seem to be inclined to pursue cap-and-trade over comprehensive health care reform during this time of crisis. Cap-and-trade is a complex Rube-Goldberg-esque legislative contraption, and one that will require sacrifice from business and consumers. The impact will vary by region; McCaskill's state relies more on coal than some others, for example. And the one existing national -- or supranational -- cap-and-trade regime -- Europe's -- doesn't seem to be working well.
Now -- the administration and Congress will still make their way through the morass of unfinished business of regulating carbon emissions. The EPA will change a whole lot of rules. For those who believe that global climate change and our dependence on foreign oil are our greatest threats, there will be plenty to digest. Just not cap-and-trade.
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