Reuters is afraid we’ll somehow screw up cap-and-trade (admitting Europe’s failure in the process):

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) — Plans by the United States to tackle climate change through a cap and trade scheme must learn from the mistakes of Europe if they are to avoid giving away multi-billion-dollar windfalls to industry.
American lawmakers are at the first stage of drafting a cap and trade scheme, in a larger climate bill which could transform how the United States produces its energy and boost the chances of agreeing a new ambitious global pact to fight climate change.
Fierce lobbying by industries and some legislators to dilute the impact on fuel bills, especially during a recession, could undermine carbon cuts, European analysts say.
“The U.S. debate is really U.S.-centered. There is so much focus on buying the 60 (Senate) votes needed, and each senator’s vote that is bought comes with something attached, some type of concession for a sector or for trade unions,” said Susanne Droge of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
The European Union scheme, launched in 2005, has struggled to shake off two early mistakes: handing out too many permits which removed the requirement to buy them, and giving them to power plants for free.
Analysts say utilities pass on the price of carbon permits to consumers regardless, making billions of euros (dollars) in windfall profits across the sector as a result.
And because there were initially too many permits the EU carbon price crashed to zero two years ago, relegating the first trading phase of the scheme from 2005-07 to an experiment.

The lesson we really need to learn is that the Obama Energy Tax is just bad policy, and it will only hurt consumers while doing nothing for the environment.