I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3033 

To authorize Federal agencies and legislative branch offices to purchase 

greenhouse gas offsets and renewable energy credits, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 24, 2009 

Mr. WELCH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committees 

on House Administration and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize Federal agencies and legislative branch offices 

to purchase greenhouse gas offsets and renewable energy 

credits, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Carbon Neutral Gov5 ernment Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE OFFSETS AND 

2 CREDITS. 

3 (a) FEDERAL AUTHORITIES.—Subject to the require4 ments of this Act, each executive agency (as defined in 

5 section 105 of title V of the United States Code) and each 

6 legislative branch office is authorized to use appropriated 

7 funds to purchase either or both of the following in any 

8 open market transaction, that complies with all applicable 

9 procurement rules and regulations and is approved in ac10 cordance with subsection (c): 

11 (1) Qualified tradeable greenhouse gas offsets. 

12 (2) Qualified tradeable renewable energy cred13 its. 

14 (b) QUALIFICATION OF OFFSETS AND CREDITS.—A 

15 tradeable greenhouse gas offset or renewable energy credit 

16 shall be treated as qualified for purposes of this section 

17 if the Secretary of Energy certifies the generator of such 

18 offset or credit. Upon the application of any person gener19 ating or planning to generate any such offsets or credits, 

20 the Secretary shall certify the generator if the Secretary 

21 determines that the generator meets, or will, upon imple22 mentation, meet, such requirements as the Secretary 

23 deems necessary, under rules promulgated by the Sec24 retary, to ensure that the offsets or credits generated will 

25 represent the reduction of greenhouse gases as specified 

26 or estimated in the offset (in the case of an offset) or in 


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1 the generation of the amount of renewable energy which 

2 the credit represents or is estimated to represent (in the 

3 case of a credit). A reduction in greenhouse gases that 

4 the Secretary determines would have occurred in the ab5 sence of the opportunity to sell an offset for such reduc6 tion shall not be treated as a qualified offset for purposes 

7 of this Act. 

8 (c) APPROVAL OF OPEN MARKET TRANSACTIONS.— 

9 The Secretary of Energy shall promulgate rules, after no10 tice and opportunity for comment, regarding the open 

11 market transactions (involving qualified tradeable green12 house gas offsets and qualified tradeable renewable energy 

13 credits) that will be treated as approved for purposes of 

14 this Act. Such rules shall accommodate forward pur15 chasing and crediting of offsets and credits on an esti16 mated basis from small scale offset and renewable energy 

17 generators, and other open market transactions that are 

18 useful in enabling short-term purchases of greenhouse gas 

19 offsets and renewable energy credits to contribute mean20 ingfully to the implementation of small scale offset and 

21 renewable energy generators. 

22 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act: 

23 (1) GREENHOUSE GAS OFFSET.—The term 

24 ‘‘greenhouse gas offset’’ means the reduction in 

25 emissions of greenhouse gases that results from an 


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1 action or actions undertaken for the purpose, among 

2 others, of reducing greenhouse gas emissions (in3 cluding the generation of renewable energy), where: 

4 (A) such action or actions would not have occurred 

5 in the absence of the opportunity to sell an offset for 

6 the resulting reductions; (B) the party claiming 

7 credit for the reductions has acquired the exclusive 

8 legal rights to claim credit for the reductions; and 

9 (C) such exclusive legal rights can be verified and 

10 approved by the Secretary through an auditable con11 tract path or other system established by the Sec12 retary. 

13 (2) GREENHOUSE GAS.—The term ‘‘greenhouse 

14 gas’’ includes carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous 

15 oxide, and fluorinated gases. 

16 (3) RENEWABLE ENERGY CREDIT.—The term 

17 ‘‘renewable energy credit’’ means all of the environ18 mental attributes associated with a single unit of en19 ergy generated by a renewable energy source where: 

20 (A) those attributes are transferred or recorded sep21 arately from that unit of energy; (B) the party 

22 claiming ownership of the credit has acquired the ex23 clusive legal ownership of all, and not less than all, 

24 the environmental attributes associated with that 

25 unit of energy; and (C) exclusive legal ownership of 


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1 the credit can be verified and approved by the Sec2 retary through an auditable contract path or other 

3 system established by the Secretary. 

4 (4) RENEWABLE ENERGY.—The term ‘‘renew5 able energy’’ means electric energy generated from 

6 solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas, ocean (including 

7 tidal, wave, current, and thermal), geothermal, mu8 nicipal solid waste, or new hydroelectric generation 

9 capacity achieved from increased efficiency or addi10 tions of new capacity at an existing hydroelectric 

11 project. 

12 (5) TRADEABLE.—The term ‘‘tradeable’’ when 

13 used in connection with an offset or credit means 

14 that the offset or credit is available for purchase and 

15 sale in an open and transparent market. 

16 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The authority of section 1 

17 shall take effect for fiscal years after the enactment of 

18 this Act. 

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