Obama: The Cap on Carbon Is Coming...

President Barack Obama yesterday made a very specific demand for averting a climate crisis [1] and transitioning to a clean energy economy when he said, "I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America."

And even more notably, the White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs yesterday confirmed [2] earlier reports that the President's budget proposal will presume the "cap-and-trade" proposal will generate new revenue. [2]

That means Obama is not budging from his campaign proposal for any market-based carbon cap system to make polluters pay for the right to emit carbon into the public's sky, and not have the permits handed out for free.

Making polluters pay is a disincentive to pollute and will drive demand for efficiently-produced goods and services. Furthermore, the revenues can achieve twin goals. As Climate Progress [3] recently flagged from a NYT piece [4], "...Mr. Obama would have the government use most of the revenues for relief to families to offset higher utility bills and related expenses. The remaining revenues would cover his proposals for $15 billion a year in spending and tax incentives to develop alternative energy.

The President made his demand despite the persistent skittishness of behind-the-curve fossil-fuel addicted Senators [5] which will make it a challenge to attain a 60-vote supermajority needed to avoid filibusters. That shows the President is eager to use his deepening popularity to pressure Congress to act.

As a extra shove, the President's chief climate adviser is subtly warning Congress that the Administration can proceed under the Clean Air Act whether they like it or not, [6] a strategy previewed last week by Grist's David Roberts. [7]

Conservatives [8] are predictably reacting [9] to the reports of assumed revenues from a cap-and-trade system as a "tax increase."

Of course, they never mention it's an effective tax increase of polluters, not consumers. And that the plan would return much of the revenue to consumers and avoid any shifting of the cost burden. For the President to make this plain in his budget is another example of confidence, that he is unafraid to take on false attacks from conservatives.

Nevertheless, Obama's declaration last night does not ensure any climate legislation won't be rendered ineffective with loopholes. And there is massive corporate lobbying effort to accomplish just that.

Yesterday, the Center for Public Integrity released a comprehensive investigation into the multi-faceted corporate effort of more than 2,000 lobbyists [10] looking to limit costs on specific industries, if not kill legislation altogether.

It is going to take great diligence on the part of the progressive grassroots to maintain pressure for effective climate legislation. But Obama's insistence on passing a comprehensive bill puts the forces of obstruction on notice, and get us started on the right foot.