Congress urged to pass greenhouse gas limits
Democrats wary of climate bill’s economic fallout
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration warned yesterday that the United States could slip further behind China and other countries in clean energy development if Congress fails to pass climate legislation, as early signs of a rift emerged among Democrats over the bill’s costs.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a Senate panel that the United States has stumbled in the clean energy race and to catch up Congress must enact comprehensive energy legislation that puts the first-ever limits on the gases blamed for global warming.
“I remain confident that we can make up the ground,’’ said Chu, one of five administration officials, including three Cabinet secretaries, to push for legislation before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee as it opened debate on a 925-page bill that would reduce greenhouse gases by about 80 percent by mid-century.
With weeks remaining before 192 nations gather in Copenhagen in December to negotiate a new global treaty to slow climate change, time is running out for the Senate to pass a climate bill. While the legislation is likely to clear the environment panel, as many as five other committees have jurisdiction over the bill before it goes to the floor, and more than a dozen Democrats have voiced serious concerns about the potential economic fallout from shifting away from fossil fuels to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.
The leader of one of those panels, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, told the hearing yesterday he had “serious reservations.’’
The bill calls for greenhouse gases to be cut by 20 percent by 2020, a target that was scaled back to 17 percent in the House after opposition from coal-state Democrats.
“Montana can’t afford the unmitigated impacts of climate change,’’ Baucus said. “But we also cannot afford the unmitigated effects of climate change legislation.’’
The bill’s chief author, Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, acknowledged that the bill would raise energy prices, but said the savings from reducing energy and the money to be made in new technologies were far greater.
He got some much-needed backup from President Obama, who made a stop at a solar energy site in Florida yesterday.
The president warned that opponents would work against the climate bill. “They’re going to argue that we should do nothing, stand pat, do less, or delay action yet again,’’ said Obama.
An Environmental Protection Agency analysis released Friday said the average household would pay an additional $80 to $111 a year to power their homes and fuel their cars if the bill becomes law and businesses pass on the cost of reducing pollution to consumers.
Republicans questioned the validity of the EPA study. And Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the panel’s top Republican and a skeptic of the science behind global warming, said Americans would not stomach the expense.
