American Clean Energy And Security Act Of 2009

A piece of federal legislation that aimed to establish a so-called “cap-and-trade” system in the U.S., in part as a compromise effort to try to battle climate change. (Bonus question: can you guess in what year the law was passed? Trick question! Keep reading...)

A cap-and-trade system uses market incentives to limit emissions of greenhouse gases (and potentially other pollutants). Basically, companies get a limit to their emissions, but they can trade limits with each other. So, if you have a business that requires more emissions, you can buy exemptions from businesses that create fewer emissions. The goal is to limit overall emissions, but leave flexibility for companies to run their businesses as needed.

The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a narrow margin, but died in the Senate without a vote. So to answer the bonus question, it never passed into law. But hopefully you can guess the year when all the political wrangling took place (Hint: after 2008 but before 2010).