By a razor-thin majority, House Democrats scored a victory on climate change legislation Friday. The 219 to 212 vote for the bill, which seeks to impose the nation's first mandatory reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming, divided Democrats much more sharply than the vote on President Obama's stimulus plan.

44 Democrats voted against the climate change bill. At least six Democrats switched their votes from "yes" to "no" when the tally reached 220 and in a post-vote news conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) acknowledged that some of the 44 Democrats who voted against the bill "would have been ready to make sure that the bill passed."

The bill would fundamentally transform the energy sector, and if passed by the Senate and signed into law, touch almost every corner of the economy. The legislation is intended to limit emissions of gases that contribute to global warming and create a market for trading pollution allowances.

Of significant importance to the helicopter industry was the revision of the bill in the days before passage to omit a requirement to set new greenhouse gas emission standards for aircraft. President Obama’s administration has yet to take a position on the inclusion of U.S. aviation in the European Union’s (EU) emissions trading scheme (ETS).

Language was also added to give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission backstop authority to site electricity lines in Western states. To address concerns about the treatment of small petroleum refining companies, the bill now provides 0.25 percent of the allowances to small business refiners, in addition to the 2 percent the bill initially provided for the refining industry. Oil producers would be required to obtain one allowance for every ton of CO2 emitted.

The bill now puts the Agriculture Department, instead of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in charge of special projects to reduce emissions in rural areas, for example planting trees on farmland. Farmers and forest owners would be allowed to claim credit for actions they took as early as 2001 to increase carbon sequestration. Language was also added to halt an EPA proposal to measure the greenhouse gas emissions that might indirectly result if more farmland is used for growing biofuel stock.

Last minute revisions also give more help to rural electric cooperatives and other small coal-powered Midwestern utilities. The bill now gives 0.5 percent of all emission allowances to small utilities that produce less than 4 million megawatt hours of electricity annually. The concern had been that these smaller utilities would have to purchase surplus emission allocations given to larger, clean utilities on the coasts. The bill now distributes excess allowances to all local electricity companies based on their emissions.

Passage of the bill secures an initial victory for a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s agenda. Obama called the legislation an “extraordinary first step.” However, it is not clear how much of the sprawling 1200 page House bill will survive in the Senate, where moderate Democrats and Republicans could form a majority that backs less ambitious action. Without Republican support it will take the votes of all 58 Democrats and two independents to bring a bill to a vote.

Don’t miss the upcoming in-depth article on Cap and Trade Legislation in ROTOR Magazine. HAI will provide more analysis on this issue in coming days.