May 26, 2010
A month following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion off the Gulf of Mexico, US Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) unveiled a climate change bill which aims to utilize alternative fuels such as natural gas, nuclear energy, and various green sources of power in an effort to cut US carbon dioxide emissions. The proposed American Power Act (APA), a modified version of the Waxman-Markey bill that passed in the House of Representatives on June 26, 2009, calls for the reduction of carbon emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.