US Senate Set To Take Up Climate Change Debate
US: May 27, 2008
WASHINGTON - The international fight to control climate change heads to a
new arena in June when the Senate is to debate a bill that could cut total
US global warming emissions by 66 percent by 2050.
Environmentalists are supportive but want more in the legislation, the
business community questions the economic impact, and the politicians who
have shepherded it seem gratified that it has managed to get this far --
even though it is unlikely to become law this year.
"I look upon this piece of legislation as a great big train in the station
and we're trying to get it out," Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican who
co-sponsored the bill, said after an updated version of the measure was
released. Senate debate is set for June 2. Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut
independent, is the bill's other chief sponsor.
The Bush administration, now in its last months, has consistently opposed an
across-the-board cap-and-trade program for carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas
emitted by fossil-fueled vehicles and coal-fired industries, as well as by
natural sources including human breath.
The United States is the only major industrialized nation outside the
carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol.
But the three major US presidential candidates -- Democrats Hillary Clinton
and Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, all senators -- favour curbing
carbon emissions, giving proponents of cap-and-trade hope for legislative
action in 2009.
Under the measure set for Senate debate, known as the Lieberman-Warner
Climate Security Act, US greenhouse gas emissions would drop by about 2
percent per year between 2012 and 2050, based on 2005 emission levels.
The bill would cap carbon emissions from 86 percent of US facilities, and
emissions from those would be 19 percent below current levels by 2020 and 71
percent below current levels by 2050, according to a summary of the bill's
details released by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Total US emissions could be reduced by up to 66 percent, the summary said.
AS EVER, WATCH THE MONEY
Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat who heads the environment
committee, said this version of the bill offers tools to soften the impact
of high prices during the transition to a lower-carbon economy. These
include a utilities rebate program and tax relief.
A coalition of 20 environmental groups including the Sierra Club, the
Environmental Defence Fund and the Natural Resources Defence Council praised
the effort but said carbon cuts should be tougher.
"The best chance for progress this year on federal global warming pollution
limits is for the Senate to strengthen and pass the Climate Security Act,"
the groups said in a statement. "The bill needs to be strengthened to ensure
that it will meet the reductions that science dictates are needed to prevent
dangerous global warming."
The pro-business American Enterprise Institute cited a US government
analysis of the bill's economic impact that projects US gross domestic
product could drop by 2.7 percent by 2050. In an online article entitled
"How Green Hysteria Will Hit Home," the institute called the 2050 targets
for emissions reduction "absurd and irresponsible."
The environmental group Natural Resources Defence Council countered by
saying the cost of doing nothing would be far higher: more than 3.6 percent
of GDP, or $3.8 trillion annually (in 2008 dollars).
Citing a study commissioned study performed by Tufts University, the council
said costs and damages for four categories related to climate change would
carry huge price tags: $422 billion for hurricanes, $360 billion for real
estate losses, $141 billion in increased energy costs and $950 billion in
water costs.
The money is key, according to John Larsen, a specialist on climate and
energy at the World Resources Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan
environmental think tank.
Because cap-and-trade programs put a value on carbon emissions where none
existed before, "They are essentially creating money ... that is distributed
around the US economy," Larsen said by telephone. "Any time the Congress
considers policies that distribute wealth ... you can expect interesting
politics."
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
Story by Deborah Zabarenko
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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