With all the debate currently going on over health care reform, it's easy to overlook a couple of developments that relate to climate change.

First, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer, (D-Calif.) have introduced Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. This is the Senate companion measure to the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), which passed the House on a narrow party-line vote earlier this year.

One of the provisions facility executives will be most interested is the language that would cut CO2 emissions. By 2020, the bill would cut carbon pollution to 20 percent below 2005 levels, according to a summary on Kerry's Web site. The final reduction would be 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.

The devil is in the details of course. In any cap and trade plan companies would have to buy permits to emit pollution. Any company that would emit more than 25,000 tons of CO2 would fall under the regulations. What isn't clear is what would happen to revenue from the sale of permits — or whether some permits would be given away to start, which was a major point of contention when the House debated the Waxman-Markey bill.

A full version of the bill isn't yet on the THOMAS Web site. Until then, we'll have to wait to see how all these details shake out — which will be a major hint at what the bill's chances are.

If you are inclined to believe this kind of bill is necessary, there is one hopeful sign. It's clear Kerry and Boxer are going to point out that a cap and trade program was successfully used to reduce acid rain in the 1990's, and that the program didn't cause utility rates to go up, as it was predicted at the time by opponents.

A couple other recent events worth noting:

The EPA finalized a rule that will require facilities, fossil fuel and industrial GHG suppliers, motor vehicle and engine manufacturers, that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of CO2 equivalent per year to report GHG emissions data to EPA annually.

That 25,000 metric ton number is about equal to 2,300 homes, EPA says, so it shouldn't impact your typical low-rise suburban office building, for example. All together, EPA estimates 10,000 facilities will be covered. All of this action by the EPA stems from Mass. v. EPA Supreme Court decision that ordered the EPA to regulate CO2.

This was also a bad week for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been leading the charge against the regulation of CO2. Nike announced that it is resigning from the board of directors of the group. In a press release, Nike cited the Chamber's opposition to a climate change bill as the reason for its resignation.

Nike's action comes after three large utilities — Exelon, Pacific Gas & Electric and PNM Resources — all announced they were severing ties from the Chamber for the same reason.

It's hard to imagine an industry that would be more dramatically forced to change its business practices than the utility industry. Coal power plants make up the single largest part of PNM's fleet, for example, so the utilities in question aren't all perfectly positioned for the transition to a lower carbon economy. What will be interesting to watch is whether other utility providers follow the lead of these three. If they do, it could provide enormous cover for moderate Senate democrats to vote for Kerry's bill.

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