Washington (Platts)--18May2007

Democrats who head 15 US House of Representatives committees asked
President George W. Bush on Friday to reverse his stand against substantial
efforts to curb global climate change when the G8 countries meet next month.

     In a letter to the president, the committee leaders said, based on press
reports, that the administration planned to oppose at the G8 meeting efforts
to limit global temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. 

     The Congress members also said they heard the White House would seek to
weaken an agreement that would reduce worldwide greenhouse gas emissions to
50% below 1990 levels by 2050.

     "We have also learned that the administration officials may be trying to
delete sections of the declaration that call on the industrialized world to
modify activities linked to recent warming and to delete one of the document's
opening phrases, which highlights the urgency of the necessary actions," the
House committee leaders added. "This is a disappointing retreat after finally
acknowledging the urgency of the issue just last month."

     The White House, instead, should "galvanize international support" to
address global climate change and demonstrate "commitment to meaningful action
to reduce global warming pollution," the lawmakers wrote.

     "US leadership is critical to tackling this global threat," they said.
"Support is growing for aggressive legislation to cap global warming pollution
and cut it dramatically over the coming decades, but we need an Executive
Branch that engages the rest of the world to solve this problem rather than
stubbornly ignoring it," they said.

     The House is considering various bills to address climate change through
energy efficiency, carbon sequestration research and financial incentives for
renewable energy. 

     The House Energy and Commerce Committee -- whose chairman, Michigan
Democrat John Dingell, did not sign the letter -- is expected to introduce
this fall a bill to cap GHGs on a mandatory, economy-wide basis with the help
of an emissions allowance trading scheme.

     Signing the letter were Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry
Waxman, California; Appropriations Chairman David Obey, Wisconsin; Budget
Chairman John Spratt, South Carolina; Foreign Affairs Chairman Tom Lantos,
California; Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, New York; Science and
Technology Chairman Bart Gordon, Tennessee; and Financial Services Chairman
Barney Frank, Massachusetts.

     Also signing the letter were Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter,
of New York; Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar,
Minnesota; Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Michigan; Small Business
Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez, New York; Standards of Official Conduct Chairwoman
Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Ohio; Select Committee on Energy Independence and
Global Warming Chairman Edward Markey, Massachusetts; Veterans' Affairs
Chairman Bob Filner, California; and Education and Labor Chairman George
Miller, also of California.

		--Cathy Cash, cathy_cash@platts.com