A directive buried in January “minibus” materials is the first step toward carbon taxes or tariffs, several energy policy experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation. [some emphasis, links added]
The Jan. 15 energy and environment bill package included a Senate Appropriations Committee’s bill report, which directs the Department of Energy (DOE) to review the carbon intensity of U.S.-produced goods and compare those emissions with similar products made abroad, including aluminum, cement, steel, plastics, and crude oil.
Opponents of the initiative told the DCNF that the review could eventually punish companies for energy use and serve as a gateway for carbon taxes and tariffs.
They argue the review effectively instructs the government to set a price for carbon emissions, but doesn’t clearly limit how the government could use that price later.
Though not legally binding, federal agencies tend to comply with a report’s directives, according to the Congressional Research Service.
It is not clear who placed the directive into the report, E&E News reported. The DCNF reached out to every Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee to determine who added the language, but received no responses.
“This Senate Appropriations report quietly resurrects carbon accounting as federal policy, giving legitimacy to the same ESG [environmental, social and governance] framework driving Europe’s carbon border taxes,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, told the DCNF.
“Once Washington starts ranking U.S. products by ’emissions intensity,’ those metrics inevitably become regulatory and trade weapons, regardless of intent.
“That approach contradicts the administration’s effort to unwind the Endangerment Finding and the greenhouse gas reporting regime.
“America should be dismantling ESG, not laundering it through appropriations language written for Brussels, not U.S. consumers.”
The DOE did not respond to the DCNF’s multiple requests for comment.
The European Union recently enacted an import tax on Jan. 1 that adjusts tariffs based on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted when producing certain goods, known as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
The report acknowledges recent EU trade policies like CBAM, then states that “accordingly, the Committee directs NETL, in consultation with relevant agencies, institutions, academia, and think tank partners as necessary, to conduct a study to determine the average product emissions intensity of certain goods produced in the U.S. compared to those produced in other countries.”
The report’s language is notably similar to the Providing Reliable, Objective, Verifiable Emissions Intensity and Transparency (PROVE IT) Act, which was introduced in 2023 and again in 2024 but never enacted by Congress.
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, and Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah previously introduced the PROVE It Act.
Eighty-two Senators voted in favor of the minibus package, and President Donald Trump signed it into law, Cramer told the DCNF, arguing that “the proof is in the results, not how someone else feels about them” when asked about critics’ opinions on the directive.
Read rest at Daily Caller
