Kerry open to ‘scaled back’ carbon plan

“And I am working with a number of colleagues now, Republicans and Democrats alike, to look at alternative ways that we might be able to scale back, provide a smaller chunk. … What is important is that we begin the process, actually begin the pricing of carbon and send a signal to the marketplace,” he said.

Kerry’s bill includes a cap-and-trade program for power plants and eventually large factories and some other industrial facilities. The bill’s emissions cap also covers motor fuels, but it contains measures to shield fuel producers from swings in the carbon market.

Kerry’s comments come ahead of a White House meeting Wednesday between President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of senators, including Kerry, to discuss energy. 

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Friday that an emissions cap applied only to electric utilities would be welcomed as a topic for discussion.

Kerry and other advocates of emissions curbs hope to keep them in the mix as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) works to bring energy legislation to the floor as soon as next month.

“If we don’t price carbon, we will create one tenth of the jobs and we will reduce one tenth of the emissions,” Kerry said.