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 con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To authorize Federal agencies and legislative branch offices 
to purchase greenhouse gas offsets and renewable energy 
credits, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Carbon Neutral Gov-
ernment Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE OFFSETS AND 
CREDITS. 
(a) FEDERAL AUTHORITIES.—Subject to the require-
ments of this Act, each executive agency (as defined in 
section 105 of title V of the United States Code) and each 
legislative branch office is authorized to use appropriated 
funds to purchase either or both of the following in any 
open market transaction, that complies with all applicable 
procurement rules and regulations and is approved in ac-
cordance with subsection (c): 
(1) Qualified tradeable greenhouse gas offsets. 
(2) Qualified tradeable renewable energy cred-
its. 
(b) QUALIFICATION OF OFFSETS AND CREDITS.—A 
tradeable greenhouse gas offset or renewable energy credit 
shall be treated as qualified for purposes of this section 
if the Secretary of Energy certifies the generator of such 
offset or credit. Upon the application of any person gener-
ating or planning to generate any such offsets or credits, 
the Secretary shall certify the generator if the Secretary 
determines that the generator meets, or will, upon imple-
mentation, meet, such requirements as the Secretary 
deems necessary, under rules promulgated by the Sec-
retary, to ensure that the offsets or credits generated will 
represent the reduction of greenhouse gases as specified 
or estimated in the offset (in the case of an offset) or in 
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the generation of the amount of renewable energy which 
the credit represents or is estimated to represent (in the 
case of a credit). A reduction in greenhouse gases that 
the Secretary determines would have occurred in the ab-
sence of the opportunity to sell an offset for such reduc-
tion shall not be treated as a qualified offset for purposes 
of this Act. 
(c) APPROVAL OF OPEN MARKET TRANSACTIONS.— 
The Secretary of Energy shall promulgate rules, after no-
tice and opportunity for comment, regarding the open 
market transactions (involving qualified tradeable green-
house gas offsets and qualified tradeable renewable energy 
credits) that will be treated as approved for purposes of 
this Act. Such rules shall accommodate forward pur-
chasing and crediting of offsets and credits on an esti-
mated basis from small scale offset and renewable energy 
generators, and other open market transactions that are 
useful in enabling short-term purchases of greenhouse gas 
offsets and renewable energy credits to contribute mean-
ingfully to the implementation of small scale offset and 
renewable energy generators. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act: 
(1) GREENHOUSE
GAS
OFFSET.—The term 
‘‘greenhouse gas offset’’ means the reduction in 
emissions of greenhouse gases that results from an 
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action or actions undertaken for the purpose, among 
others, of reducing greenhouse gas emissions (in-
cluding the generation of renewable energy), where: 
(A) such action or actions would not have occurred 
in the absence of the opportunity to sell an offset for 
the resulting reductions; (B) the party claiming 
credit for the reductions has acquired the exclusive 
legal rights to claim credit for the reductions; and 
(C) such exclusive legal rights can be verified and 
approved by the Secretary through an auditable con-
tract path or other system established by the Sec-
retary. 
(2) GREENHOUSE GAS.—The term ‘‘greenhouse 
gas’’ includes carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous 
oxide, and fluorinated gases. 
(3) RENEWABLE ENERGY CREDIT.—The term 
‘‘renewable energy credit’’ means all of the environ-
mental attributes associated with a single unit of en-
ergy generated by a renewable energy source where: 
(A) those attributes are transferred or recorded sep-
arately from that unit of energy; (B) the party 
claiming ownership of the credit has acquired the ex-
clusive legal ownership of all, and not less than all, 
the environmental attributes associated with that 
unit of energy; and (C) exclusive legal ownership of 
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the credit can be verified and approved by the Sec-
retary through an auditable contract path or other 
system established by the Secretary. 
(4) RENEWABLE ENERGY.—The term ‘‘renew-
able energy’’ means electric energy generated from 
solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas, ocean (including 
tidal, wave, current, and thermal), geothermal, mu-
nicipal solid waste, or new hydroelectric generation 
capacity achieved from increased efficiency or addi-
tions of new capacity at an existing hydroelectric 
project. 
(5) TRADEABLE.—The term ‘‘tradeable’’ when 
used in connection with an offset or credit means 
that the offset or credit is available for purchase and 
sale in an open and transparent market. 
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The authority of section 1 
shall take effect for fiscal years after the enactment of 
this Act. 
Æ 
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