Washington Post: Legisladores americanos intentan contrarrestar cambio climático

Lawmakers Will Proceed on Climate Plan
Leaders Focus on System of Tradable Allowances for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, October 4, 2007; Page A04
Legislative leaders in the House and Senate said yesterday that they plan to press ahead with proposals to limit U.S. emissions linked to global warming, focusing on mandatory, economy-wide caps of the kind that President Bush explicitly rejected last week in a climate conference he hosted.

While the bills are less ambitious than many climate scientists and environmental activists have wanted, they indicate that Congress plans to press ahead with a sweeping climate change proposal despite the president's opposition.

Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), left, and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) envision a cap-and-trade system in which the federal government would distribute greenhouse gas allowances that could be bought and sold. (Dennis Cook - AP)

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Yesterday, Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee issued a white paper outlining a cap-and-trade system that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent to 80 percent below current levels. Under the system envisioned by Chairman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) and a key subcommittee chairman, Rick Boucher (D-Va.), the federal government would distribute greenhouse gas allowances that could be bought and sold, though the lawmakers left open the possibility of using taxes as well.

It remains unclear how much Republican support Dingell and Boucher's proposal will enjoy in the House, and when legislation might advance. Asked whether GOP members backed the plan, Dingell spokeswoman Jodi Seth responded in an e-mail, "You'll have to check with the Republicans."

Boucher has vowed to work with his GOP counterpart on the subcommittee on energy and air quality, former speaker J. Dennis Hastert (Ill.), but Hastert spokeswoman Lulu Blacksmith said her boss had not taken a position and "is in the process of reviewing the document."

The Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works plans to move a bipartisan bill through committee in December, at a time when international climate negotiators will be meeting in Bali. Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) will lead a Senate delegation to the talks along with John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).

"Moving global warming legislation is a top priority," Boxer said in a statement. "I am optimistic that we can get a strong global warming bill through the subcommittee very soon and through the full committee by the end of the year."

The panel plans to take up a cap-and-trade bill authored by Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John W. Warner (R-Va.) that includes a Federal Reserve-style board to help contain the costs imposed on carbon emitters and aims for a 70 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions from current levels by 2050. It also will take up several other climate bills with both deeper and more modest emissions cuts.

Environmental advocacy groups welcomed these overtures. Steve Cochran, national climate campaign director for Environmental Defense, said yesterday's white paper "appears to be a serious attempt by Chairmen Dingell and Boucher to take the initial steps toward developing comprehensive climate legislation in the House."

David D. Doniger, policy director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Climate Center, said that while he and other environmentalists back an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gases, Dingell and Boucher's blueprint amounts to "a very constructive opening move."
However, Lee Fuller, vice president of government relations at the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said lawmakers have underestimated the challenge of reaching their reduction targets by assuming that as many as 145 new nuclear power plants will come online by 2030.

"Is that realistic? Our sense is no," Fuller said.