The Republican chairman and the top Democrat on the Senate Energy Committee will introduce legislation this spring aimed at fighting global warming, but their staff see little chance of Congress passing the climate change bill this year.
WASHINGTON — The Republican chairman and the top Democrat on the Senate Energy Committee will introduce legislation this spring aimed at fighting global warming, but their staff see little chance of Congress passing the climate change bill this year.
The European Union, Japan and much of the rest of the industrialized world are imposing mandatory cuts on emissions linked to global warming. But in the United States, the Bush Administration favors asking companies to join a voluntary emission reduction program.
Sen. Pete Domenici, who chairs the Senate's energy committee, believes the United States should take a tougher stand. Domenici and his Democratic colleague on the panel, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, jointly issued a "white paper" Thursday listing climate change issues that must be resolved before they can write their bill.
The paper seeks answers to several key questions, including whether the entire U.S. economy or just certain sectors should be regulated in any greenhouse gas program.
The paper notes that no single sector of the U.S. economy, such as transportation or industrial, makes an overwhelming contribution to America's total greenhouse gas emissions.
"If a key design feature is fairness, then no one sector should be singled out," the paper says. "An economy-wide approach also allows for ease in seeking the least-cost path to (emission) reductions through trading systems."
The paper also asked how to allocate emission-reduction credits among industry sectors, like coal-burning utilities and oil refineries.
In a briefing with reporters on Capitol Hill, the lawmakers' senior staff said the public will be asked to comment on issues raised by the white paper. They said the committee would hold a day-long conference in March to hear from climate change experts and industry representatives.
Domenici and Bingaman plan to incorporate the suggestions into final legislation. Their plan already faces strong opposition from other senators, a large chunk of the House of Representative and President Bush, who opposes mandatory emissions cuts for U.S. companies.
Senior staff did not think the bill would get very far this year, but would lay the groundwork for action in a future Congress.
Bob Simon, the energy committee's Democratic staff director, said it would be "difficult" to get the legislation through Congress this year.
His Republican counterpart, Alex Flint, said the "ground is shifting" among lawmakers to deal with climate change. But he would not predict the bill would make it to the president's desk this year.
Flint said it was "inevitable" Congress would pass climate change legislation at some point, but he could not say when.
Source: Reuters
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