House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-CA) have given into the Republican members’ request to hold one more hearing to explore the cost of cap-and-trade legislation. The hearing is scheduled for Friday.

“It is our intention to use the opportunity…to carefully examine the one element of the legislation that has so far escaped examination in 38 hearings stretching over 40 days — its cost — by calling witnesses who can professionally examine this element,” said Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House energy panel, and Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee.

“We need to provide them [the witnesses] with specific emission allocation language as soon as possible. We would recommend not later than close of business tomorrow [Wednesday] so that our witnesses and we have sufficient time to analyze the allocation structure and its economic impacts before the Friday hearing,” they wrote Tuesday in a letter to Waxman and Markey.

“If you are unable to provide us with specific emission permit allocation language [by Wednesday], then understandably the witnesses we want to testify will be unwilling to attend because they will be unable to adequately analyze the legislation prior to the hearing.”

Last week former Vice President Al Gore, the world’s leading spokesman on the issue of global warming, was at a loss for words when asked to estimate the cost of the cap-and-trade legislation proposed by Waxman and Markey. “The former vice president is hardly alone in that respect. Neither he, nor we, nor the public have been let in on the secret of how much Waxman-Markey might cost,” Barton and Upton said.

Waxman and Markey allowed the additional hearing after they decided to postpone markup of their legislation, which initially was to begin this week. In a memo issued Monday, the House lawmakers said they planned to schedule markup of the bill in the Energy and Environment Subcommittee next week. The discussion draft of the Waxman-Markey bill would mandate an 83% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and calls for greater use of renewable energy sources in the generation of electricity.

The marathon hearings by the House energy panel last week began the “opening round” of serious debate on climate change legislation, with Democrats saying their bill would create jobs and have minimal adverse impact on energy prices, while Republicans argued otherwise. Markey has signaled that the committee hopes to send the bill to the House floor by the Memorial Day recess. Despite pressure from Democratic leadership, some say it’s unlikely that Congress will pass climate change legislation this year.

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