Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Reps. Scott Peters and John Curtis formally introduced the PROVE IT Act Tuesday after a long delay.
Why it matters: The bill would lay the groundwork for a carbon emissions-based trade regime, a next frontier for U.S. climate policy.
Driving the news: The bill currently has 19 other cosponsors, including nine Republicans.
- Like its Senate companion, it would direct the Energy Department to study emissions from industrial products made in the U.S. and abroad.
- It also includes a provision specifying that it authorizes no new taxes, a response to conservative critics who have called it a precursor to a domestic carbon tax.
- The House introduction notably comes two weeks after Curtis bested conservative challengers in the Republican primary in his bid to replace Mitt Romney in the Senate.
Friction point: Conservative groups have gone after the legislation relentlessly.
- Although the American Petroleum Institute supports the bill, it's also gotten pushback from refiners, per E&E News.
- Curtis frames it as a way to defend against the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism: "We have a choice of using their numbers or our numbers. I think that's a pretty easy choice," he said at an event today with the Climate Leadership Council.
What's next: Peters and Curtis say they're hoping it can ride on a year-end legislative vehicle.
- It advanced through the Senate EPW this year, and the White House has thrown its hat into the carbon tariff arena in recent months.
- But E&C Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers hasn't weighed in publicly, and they'd likely need at least tacit support from her to move it in the House.
