August 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 19

By Jon Wisbey

advo cacy update

The Heat is On
Opportunities for Parks and Recreation in
Proposed Climate Legislation

he Deepwater Horizon tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico has pushed

vectorstock

energy and environmental policy to the forefront of the national debate. The Obama Administration and Democratic Senate leadership have made it clear they intend to capitalize on this event by making a
strong push this summer to pass energy and climate legislation. Several of
the climate proposals that the U.S. Senate is likely to consider would create
new funding opportunities for state and local parks and recreation agencies.
Last summer, the U.S. House of Representatives
passed comprehensive cap-and-trade legislation
in the form of H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (or " Waxman-Markey bill " ),
introduced by Congressman Henry Waxman (DCA) and Ed Markey (D-MA). The Waxman-Markey
bill would reduce greenhouse gas emissions 83
percent by 2050 through a cap-and-trade system, a
market-based approach used to control pollution by
providing economic incentives for achieving carbon reductions. While several climate bills were introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2009, no proposal has
yet been able to garner the 60 votes needed to pass.
Now, following the passage of landmark health
care and financial industry reform legislation, the
Obama Administration has shifted its focus to federal
energy and climate policy. In June 2010, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) promised to dedicate
Senate floor time to energy and climate legislation in
July. While the final language of the climate legislation that will be brought to the floor is not yet decided,
it is likely that the ultimate bill will draw heavily upon
the framework established in the proposed American
Power Act (or " Kerry-Lieberman bill " ), introduced in
May 2010 by senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT). Drafted in partnership with Senator
Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who dropped his support
for the legislation shortly before it was introduced, the
Kerry-Lieberman bill is widely seen as one of the few
pieces of climate legislation that could attract votes
from moderate Senate Republicans.
Like the House-passed Waxman-Markey bill,

the Kerry-Lieberman bill would institute a cap-andtrade system that limits the amount of greenhouse
gas emissions that carbon-intensive sectors of the
economy (such as utilities and manufacturers) are
allowed to emit and would require carbon polluters
to purchase permits for the emissions that they do
produce. Selling these allowances would produce a
significant new source of government revenue; the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that
the Kerry-Lieberman bill would yield $80 billion in
carbon revenues annually by 2015 and $140 billion
by 2038. A portion of these allowances-starting at
.15 percent, or approximately $165 million, in 2019
and growing to .6 percent, or approximately $780
million, by 2034-would be allocated to the Land
and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for natural
resources adaptation activities. Five-sixths of this
funding would be distributed discretionarily to federal and state projects by the secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, while the remaining one-sixth
would be distributed competitively to states and Indian tribes. Similar provisions exist in the WaxmanMarkey bill, meaning that this potential funding for
the LWCF is likely to survive a conference between
the House and Senate if the Senate is able to pass climate legislation with this language intact.
Unlike the Waxman-Markey bill, the Kerry-Lieberman bill creates a " Carbon Conservation Fund "
that would provide incentives for private landowners
of agricultural, grassland, and forest land to adopt
practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The bill specifically requires that these incentives be

www.NRPA .ORG

SEPTEMBER 2010

Parks & Recreation

August 2010 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2010 - Parks & Recreation