Assuming that Congress continues to do nothing
on climate, that $ 655 billion floor for regulatory justification (and the totally unknown
ceiling) will prove significant when at some point a hypothetical second Clinton Administration — which promises to be serious about climate in a way that the Obama Administration apparently has not been — resorts to Section 115
of the Clean Air Act to regulate
greenhouse gas emissions.
Starting in 2012, the agency implemented a statewide cap - and - trade system that imposed a
ceiling on greenhouse -
gas emissions across key sectors and then distributed a fixed number
of tradable pollution permits to businesses.