May 6 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Jon Lender The Hartford Courant, Conn.

The State Senate gave final -- and unanimous -- legislative approval Monday to a tough new bill requiring drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions connected to global warming, and the GOP leader in the Senate said he expects Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell to sign it into law.

"I'd be surprised if she didn't," Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, said after the Senate quickly passed, by a 35-0 vote, the same bill the House last week debated more than four hours before approving.

Rell did not commit herself Monday on whether she'll sign the bill. Adam Liegeot, a spokesman for her office, said, "Connecticut will continue to aggressively explore opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," and "this measure prescribes laudable goals" -- but "Gov. Rell will review it in its final form to ensure that the goals are achievable in a cost-effective manner."

McKinney said, however, that Rell has supported the principles in the bill, and, moreover, he noted that Rell's commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, Gina McCarthy, has been working "very closely" with legislators in "drafting this bill to make sure it's balanced and that the reductions required can be achieved by 2020."

Later Monday, backers of the bill noticed that it showed up on a list of measures that Rell said are vulnerable to possible veto because of their "fiscal impact" on the state budget, now that a deficit is projected. This list was attached to a letter sent to lawmakers, asking them not to pass measures that would "result in a revenue loss."

But McKinney said he doesn't think there is a problem because the bill's projected $500,000-a-year cost -- for emissions studies and other expenses -- will be offset by money from a state Department of Motor Vehicles "greenhouse gas reduction" fund.

He said he chatted briefly with Rell "and I mentioned that we passed the global warming bill, and she didn't reference the letter." Also, he said, although he has no "direct confirmation" that the governor will sign the bill, "discussions lead me to believe that we're going to be OK."

The governor's press office declined to elaborate Monday night on its original statement.

The bill's sponsor in the Senate, Sen. Edward Meyer, D-Guilford, said during Monday's debate that the bill will be good for both the environment and for business. Meyer cited past statements by California venture capitalist John Doerr that "green technology is bigger than the Internet" and it "could be the biggest opportunity of the 21st century."

Meyer added: "We're making a better environment, and we're building a new green economy. What fun to have a double winner in this regard."

The bill would force state agencies to calculate and list greenhouse gases produced in the state, come up with strategies to meet the new reduction goals and start measuring the state's progress. Those efforts could affect daily life in Connecticut in ways that include electricity costs; incentives for saving energy and using alternative, renewable sources; how homes and businesses are built; the kinds of motor vehicles on the road; and the availability of public transportation.

"To get there, it will take a very comprehensive, statewide effort," state Rep. Patricia Widlitz, D-Guilford, said last week in arguing for House passage.

Widlitz said after Monday's Senate vote that the state has been falling short of greenhouse gas reduction goals set by legislation in 2004, so the bill with mandatory standards became necessary. Opponents in the House ended up being more vocal than numerous last week, and the bill finally passed 131-16 there.

The new bill would build on goals established four years ago and would require Connecticut to cut emissions, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels, to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below 2001 levels by 2050. Many scientists say those goals must be reached worldwide to ward off global warming's worst effects.

Similar measures have been enacted in California, Hawaii, New Jersey and, just two months ago, in Washington state. At a conference at Yale last month, Rell signed a resolution backed by 18 governors urging the federal government to join with states in a national effort toward curbing energy appetites and finding cleaner power sources.

Environmental groups celebrated Monday's Senate vote.

Connecticut and other states passing bills "are setting the bar for Congress as it debates nationwide limits on global warming pollution," said Christopher Phelps, program director for Environmental Connecticut, one of five groups in a coalition called the Stop Global Warming Campaign.

Many environmentalists assume that no federal bill will pass until a new president is elected, but "the policies that states have developed -- such as Connecticut and California and New Jersey -- are really going to be looked to as models for national programs," said Charles J. Rothenberger, staff attorney for the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, one of the coalition's five groups. "We're inventing the wheel, if you will."

Indicative of the bipartisan support in the Senate were the comments of a business-friendly Greenwich Republican, Sen. William Nickerson. He said it doesn't matter whether a person accepts the proposition that global warming is real or is a skeptic about human-caused climate change. "Whether you're an adherent ... or whether you're not, you need this bill," Nickerson said.

Either way, he said, the bill requires actions that will benefit the nation by decreasing pollution, saving energy and reducing the nation's dependency on foreign fuel.