Date: 25-Feb-10
Country: US
Author: Richard Cowan and Jasmin Melvin
 

The Senate is struggling to find a compromise measure to force industry to reduce carbon dioxide emissions blamed for climate change.

A wide-ranging bill will require a debate in the Senate and anything that passes there would have to be reconciled with a much different bill approved last year by the House of Representatives.

There's no guarantee Congress will be able to finish legislation this year, especially with time dwindling before November elections and other bills taking a higher priority.

Following are some key future dates to watch for:

* SOMETIME IN MARCH: The Environmental Protection Agency is slated to issue regulations to reduce carbon dioxide spewed by vehicles. It would mark the first time the federal government would regulate carbon and open the way for broader controls on sources including power plants, refineries and heavy industry. The EPA has indicated no rules would be put on the industrial polluters before 2011.

* MARCH OR APRIL: Senator Lisa Murkowski could try to pass legislation stopping EPA from regulating carbon. The White House says it would work hard to defeat it.

* MAY OR JUNE: Senator John Kerry, who is leading the Senate drive for a climate control bill, says he wants a measure passed by the Senate this spring. If he can't pull it off by then, the initiative could be doomed this year. By midyear, lawmakers running for reelection will be in full campaign mode, with partisanship even worse than usual and it will be hard for lawmakers to deal.

* NOVEMBER 2: Election Day. All 435 seats in the House and 38 of the 100 Senate seats are up for grabs in an election that will determine whether Democrats or Republicans hold majority power in 2011-2012. Even if Democrats hold on, their majorities could be smaller, making it even more difficult to pass a comprehensive climate bill.

Here is a past timeline of key dates in the global warming debate.

* July 1979 - The National Academy of Sciences releases the Charney report, linking rising carbon emissions to global warming. The report warns that "a wait-and-see policy may mean waiting until it's too late."

* July 1996 - U.S. Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs Timothy Wirth presents a U.S. position statement that calls on industrialized countries to set "legally binding mid-term targets" for greenhouse gas reductions at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Geneva.

* July 25, 1997 - The U.S. Senate unanimously passes the Byrd-Hagel Resolution, which says the United States should not sign any international agreements to cut emissions as long as developing countries are exempt.

* December 1997 - The Kyoto Protocol, which pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent by 2012, is adopted at a U.N. conference in Kyoto, Japan. The United States eventually signs the protocol, but the Clinton administration never sends it to the Senate for ratification.

* March 2001 - The Bush administration renounces the Kyoto Protocol.

* September 2002 - The Environmental Protection Agency, with White House approval, removes a chapter on global warming from its annual air pollution report.

* August 8, 2005 - President George W. Bush signs into law the Energy Policy Act of 2005, creating a Renewable Fuels Standard and providing incentives for alternative energy.

* August 23-30, 2005 - Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans and other Gulf states. It is one of the strongest and deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history, heightening awareness and concern about global warming.

* December 2005 - Ten states initiate the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap and trade program for carbon emission from power plants in the member states. It is the first market-based cap and trade system in the United States.

* September 27, 2006 - California's governor signs into law a bill to reduce emissions in the state by 25 percent by 2020, the first state to mandate reductions in greenhouse gases.

* April 2, 2007 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon and other emissions that spur global warming.

* May 19, 2009 - President Barack Obama announces a national fuel-economy and greenhouse gas standard to cut emissions for cars and trucks.

* June 26, 2009 - The U.S. House of Representatives passes a climate bill calling for 17 percent reductions by 2020, from 2005 levels, or about 4 percent below the 1990 baseline used by many other countries and regions including the European Union.

* December 7-19, 2009 - Talks at the U.N. conference in Copenhagen do not produce a new treaty. Instead, leading polluters including the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa, agree to a non-binding pact.

* January 31, 2010 - Fifty-five nations, accounting for 78 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, submit varying national targets to the Copenhagen Accord. The United Nations says the deadline is flexible and other countries can submit targets later.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)