Debt Deal, Promising Energy Budget Cuts, Chills Hopes for a Carbon Tax

"Congress' debt deal leaves climate advocates grappling with a decade of potentially declining environmental budgets and narrowing hopes of attaching a tax on greenhouse gas emissions to pay down the deficit.

The deadline measure, passed with bipartisan support in the House last night, promises $917 billion in discretionary cuts over the next 10 years, with decreases of up to $1.5 trillion more ushered in later this year. Huge chunks of funding would be eliminated from the Pentagon and government agencies, prompting concerns that programs related to renewable energy, climate science and technology research could come under the knife for years to come.

It's unclear where the deepest craters will occur, but clean energy supporters urged lawmakers to avoid painful reductions at the Energy Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, which searches for breakthrough technologies to radically alter the nation's energy use. Other vulnerable programs include energy grants, loan guarantees, and tax credits for wind, solar and other clean energies."

Evan Lehmann reports for ClimateWire August 2, 2011.