When Rep. Henry Waxman of California and Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts released a draft of a much-anticipated global warming bill last week, it effectively marked the start of this year’s debate over regulating greenhouse gas emissions. But even with a Democratic majority in Congress and a sympathetic Obama administration, it’s going to be a long, tough fight. The debate centers on a proposal to create a cap-and-trade program, which, if passed, would set national limits on greenhouse gas emissions and require big polluters to get credits, or permits, for their emissions, which could then be traded between cleaner and dirtier companies. Among the questions that remain to be answered: how to design a cap-and-trade program that not only works but also protects average Americans from potentially higher energy costs and how to spend the hundreds of billions of dollars the program is expected to raise. As things look now, the House and the Senate could start debating the bill within the next few months. And yet, particularly in the Senate, supporters face major obstacles stemming from uncertainties and warnings about the economic impact of climate change policies. The recession has only served to fuel opposition from […]