Six senators back mandatory greenhouse gas cuts
By Chris Baltimore
Six U.S. senators, including potential 2008 presidential contenders from both major parties, unveiled legislation on Friday that would force power plants and industry to curb heat-trapping greenhouse gases, seeking to cut emissions to one-third of 2000 levels by 2050.
Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), Arizona Republican and possible 2008 presidential contender, introduced a new version of the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act, which he has pursued since 2003 with Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent.
Their "cap-and-trade" plan would place a ceiling on emissions of six kinds of greenhouse gases. It would allow emitters from four sectors -- electric utilities, transportation, general industry and commercial -- to either reduce emissions outright or buy tradable permits to comply with the rules.
The two have been pursuing climate change legislation since 2003, but the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress repeatedly rejected their proposals.
"Given our will and what's at stake, America can and must assume its proper leadership role in addressing the preeminent environmental issue of our time," maverick Republican McCain said in a statement.
The bill's four co-sponsors include Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), Illinois Democrat and a possible 2008 presidential candidate.
The United States is the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, one of several greenhouse gases blamed for melting glaciers and rising sea levels. Efforts to put mandatory caps on U.S. carbon emissions have repeatedly failed in the Senate.
A majority of scientists, many in the U.S. government, accept that global warming is spurred by human actions and the emission of greenhouse gases.
President George W. Bush has consistently opposed mandatory carbon caps as disastrous to the U.S. economy, and the former chairman of the Senate Environment Committee - Republican James Inhofe (news, bio, voting record) of Oklahoma, called global warming a "hoax."
But the political chances for greenhouse gas limits could improve in coming months, after Democrats took over both chambers of the U.S. Congress.
This year's bill, tweaked from last year's version, would allow coal-burning utilities and other industry to trade in emissions credits to comply with the reduction requirements, which would gradually increase.
U.S. emissions from four regulated sectors would fall to 2.096 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2050, versus 6.130 billion metric tons in 2000.
The new bill allows regulated emitters to borrow more credits from one another, and creates more "offsets" -- forest plantings or other carbon-reducing projects. Those changes are meant to lower compliance costs, sponsors said.
In the Senate, other lawmakers are pursuing similar climate change proposals. Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record), California Democrat and incoming chairman of the environment panel, has called for a hearing on climate change on January 30.
In the House of Representatives, Rep. John Dingell (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, has called for hearings on climate change, and has invited former Vice President Al Gore to testify, according to a letter Dingell sent to Gore on Thursday.
Gore's documentary on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth," has been a box-office hit.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (news, bio, voting record), New Mexico Democrat and incoming Energy Committee chairman, also has a bill that would reduce carbon "intensity," or output per unit of U.S. economic growth.
According to a U.S. government analysis released this week, Bingaman's proposal would lower emissions by 5 percent, or 372 million tons, by 2015, and by 14 percent, or 1.26 billion tons, by 2030.
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