114 S2399 IS: Climate Protection and Justice Act of 2015 U.S. Senate 2015-12-10 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

II 114th CONGRESS1st Session S. 2399 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES December 10, 2015 Mr. Sanders introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide for emissions reductions, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Climate Protection and Justice Act of 2015. (b)

Table of contents

The table of contents for this Act is as follows:Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings and purposes. Sec. 3. Statement of policy. Sec. 4. Sense of Congress. Sec. 5. Definition of Administrator. TITLE I—Achieving emissions reductions Sec. 101. Carbon pollution fee. Sec. 102. Carbon Fee Rebate Program. TITLE II—Protecting vulnerable people of the United States from the impacts of climate change Subtitle A—Ensuring climate justice for all Sec. 201. Findings. Sec. 202. Definitions. Sec. 203. Climate Justice Resiliency Council. Sec. 204. Climate Justice Resiliency Grant Program. Sec. 205. Low-income and municipal energy efficiency. Subtitle B—Strengthening environmental protections for communities disproportionately impacted by climate change Sec. 211. Ending toxic air pollution from incinerators. TITLE III—Protecting and enhancing United States manufacturing Sec. 301. Carbon equivalency fee border adjustments for carbon pollution-intensive goods. Sec. 302. Carbon equivalency fee fund. TITLE IV—Protecting agriculture and enhancing farm opportunities Sec. 401. Rural Energy for America Program. Sec. 402. Soil quality improvement. Sec. 403. Nitrous oxide emissions reductions. TITLE V—Wholesale demand response Sec. 501. Wholesale demand response. Sec. 502. General right to neutrality of interconnection.

2.

Findings and purposes

(a)

Findings

Congress finds that— (1)greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere at a rate that may cause average temperatures to rise 8 degrees Fahrenheit or more; (2)the expected rise in average temperatures poses a risk of— (A)increasing global average air and ocean temperatures; (B)widespread melting of snow and ice; and (C)rising global average sea level; (3)the overwhelming majority of the scientific community is clear that climate change is— (A)real; (B)caused by human activity; and (C)already causing devastating problems in the United States and around the world; and (4)mandatory steps will be required to move aggressively to transform the energy system of the United States away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. (b)

Purposes

The purposes of this Act are— (1)to reduce, in conjunction with other laws, emissions of carbon pollution to ensure that the contribution of the United States to global climate change is lower than the level required to keep global average temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius; (2)to implement solutions that acknowledge the intersections of environmental degradation that perpetuate racial, social, and economic inequities; (3)to protect the lives of low-income, minority, and tribal communities and reinvest in those communities; (4)to empower communities to prepare for, and react to, the impacts of climate change that are already being experienced by communities; and (5)to demonstrate to the international community a commitment by the Government of the United States to aggressively reduce carbon pollution emissions.

3.

Statement of policy

It is the policy of the United States that— (1)the Government of the United States should lead the international community in an aggressive transition away from fossil fuels and toward sustainable energy; (2)the Government of the United States should tax carbon pollution to capture the price on the atmosphere and motivate significant reductions in emissions; and (3)the transition away from fossil fuels shall focus on climate justice, which requires solutions that consider— (A)the needs of workers; and (B)the manners in which the causes and effects of climate change disproportionately impact low-income and minority communities.

4.

Sense of Congress

It is the sense of Congress that Congress agrees with the opinion of virtually the entire worldwide scientific community that— (1)climate change is real; (2)climate change is caused by human activities; (3)climate change has already caused devastating problems in the United States and around the world; (4)a brief window of opportunity exists before the United States and the entire planet suffer irreparable harm; and (5)it is imperative that the United States transform the energy system of the United States away from fossil fuels and toward energy efficiency and sustainable energy as rapidly as possible.

5.

Definition of Administrator

In this Act, the term Administrator means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.