House Republican leader John A. Boehner of Ohio said the bill would create an unworkable government bureaucracy, and others continued to label it an "energy tax" and say it would harm American business.
The bill "is going to force small businesses and their workers and their families to pay more for electricity, gasoline and other products that are made in America that have a high energy content," said Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-Santa Clarita). "This will cause high-energy industries, like the steel-making industry, to move out of the United States and to our competitors such as China, India and South Korea."
The legislation is centered on a "cap-and-trade" system in an effort to limit the heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions that scientists blame for global warming.
Under the system, major sources of those gases -- including factories and power plants -- would need to obtain permits for their emissions or buy "offsets" to cover them. The number of permits would fall every year, reducing emissions by more than 80% by 2050. Most emitters would initially get free permits, but in later years would buy them at auction.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) decided to push for a vote this week because she wanted to "seize the moment," Democratic aides said, sensing that support for the bill was fragile and delay could undermine the shifting consensus.
But as the vote neared, Democrats still were going their separate ways.
For example, Rep. Tom Perriello, who represents a rural but increasingly Democratic section of Virginia, said he would support the bill. Rep. Earl Pomeroy, a conservative Democrat from North Dakota, said he would vote against it, citing his fear that the bill would drive up energy prices and harm his state's coal industry.
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jtankersley@latimes.com
joliphant@latimes.com
