US Senate Drops Bill to Cap Carbon Emissions
Plan to charge large polluters abandoned in favour of narrower legislation focusing on increasing firms’ liability for oil spills
by Haroon Siddique and agencies
Democrats have been trying to pass a plan that charges power plants, manufacturers and other large polluters for their carbon dioxide emissions, the leading contributor to global warming, for more than a year. But it ran into opposition from Republican senators, as well as Democrats eager not to jeopardise their chances in November’s midterm elections.
Republicans said the bill would create a “national energy tax”, warning costs would be passed to consumers in the form of higher electricity bills and fuel costs that would lead manufacturers to take their factories overseas, putting jobs at risk.
The failure to pass sweeping energy legislation is likely to weaken the US negotiating position heading into the international climate negotiations in Mexico at the end of the year.
Democrats hope to instead pass a narrower energy bill next week that would increase the liability of companies for oil spills in the light of public anger towards BP over the Gulf of Mexico disaster.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid said the reason for abandoning the attempt to pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill was simple: “We know we don’t have the votes.”
He said no Republican senator was willing to back the bill but maintained that the narrower legislation would still be “a step forward”.
“Number one, we’re going to hold BP accountable to ensure that they clean up their mess,” he said. “Hopefully, we can stop [accidents] from ever happening, but if they do, there will be a process to move forward.”
The bill would also boost energy efficient homes and provide incentives to convert many of America’s large trucks from diesel to natural gas.
Senator John Kerry, the Democrat who was lead sponsor of the now-abandoned climate bill, was hopeful that carbon emissions would eventually be capped. He noted that it took more than two decades for Congress to approve a health care bill championed by his friend and fellow Massachusetts senator, the late Ted Kennedy.
“This is not going to take close to that long,” he said. “I am absolutely confident that as the American people make their voices heard, and as our colleagues go home and listen to them we’re going to grow in our ability to be able to pass this.” White House energy adviser Carol Browner said Obama still supported a comprehensive bill that included a cap on carbon emissions but also backed Reid’s decision to go forward with a narrower bill.
Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, warned that the country would pay a “high price” if the Senate failed to curb carbon emissions.
“Too many senators are listening to polluters instead of the American public,” he said. “Too many senators have learned nothing from the Gulf disaster and the high price we pay when oil lobbyists dictate our energy laws.”
© Guardian News and Media Limited 2010
This new cave in by the Democrats in Congress doesn’t surprise me. It is just another example of why many Greens feel the Democrats have no real backbone. Wimps is what they are. They seem to lack the moral courage to stand for their principles. Vote Green in 2010!!
Here is a comment I found on CommonDreams to the article. I am posting it here because I want to comment on this.
mightymite July 23rd, 2010 10:23 am
The voters aren’t so ignorant that they haven’t noticed that this administration and this President haven’t done anything but impose more burdens on the American people while ignoring the real problems we all face. They also have noticed their inexperience and incompetence.
Why would anyone trust these clowns, they also have no trust in the scientist’s and Gore’s of the world who puffed their information. So the democrats are correct. They don’t have the votes to do anything because the American people overwhealmingly oppose any climate legislation at this time.
Its what they call political reality.
Yes, this administration is being seen for their inexperience and incompetence. Time and time again we see their not having what it takes to run this country and because we seem to have no one in power who has moral courage we continue to see one right after another play the political game to the end that nothing continues to get done and our country continues to march on our sucide path. It is like pod people took over our government in 1963 and one right after another sold their country and their fellow countrymen down the river for their politcal games. Democrats or Republicans they are one in the same. Yes, why would anyone TRUST those who continue to LIE to us?
I don’t think the scientsts or Al Gore lied to the American people about the reality of climate change facing the world. The real people who lied are the corporations who spent so much money to brainwash governments and people to believe that climate change is not real. That they can continue on the same path and not have to worry about the effects.
Al Gore’s first book helped to open my eyes. I will always be grateful that he got me started on the path to really look at this issue. We all make mistakes as recent studies are showing that the false information was if anything didn’t go far enough on just how fast everything is happening.
If we have any chance of a future, we must find people with the moral backbone to FIGHT and the moral courage to tell the TRUTH. Vote all those out of office who have sold their soul for a few pieces of silver. Vote Green!!! We the people must have the courage to vote for third party candidates and Independents.
It puzzles me. If imposing these sanctions is right, why would someone in office back off. If it’s right, it’s right. Thank God, they know in their hearts that it’s just another money grab. Regarding CO2 emissions, Chrisy, I think you should check this out: http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html
I hope you have a great weekend. We’re headed for the land of movie making for a few days. I’ll check in when I get back.
I went to the website you posted and started reading. It has a lot of information so I didn’t read all of it. I hope you have a great weekend too. Have fun in your land of movie making, lol.
Still hot, in the valley of the sun, but I will be saying this until Nov. lol.
I was listening to Coast to Coast Am last night and Art Bell was the host. He had a professor on who talked about Climate Change, the environment and other interesting topics. I don’t listen to the whole show, but the first part I try and listen to.
One point that he made that I thought was really valid is that 2010 is the hottest year they have had on record since 1890. That looking at rather it is man made cause or natural causes show that even if natural causes are causing the rise in temps that man is making those rises even hotter. Humans are the ones who decide what to do and our actions though wouldn’t stop the rise in temps can make the situation worst.
I know I am not explaining this very well. He was talking about the sun getting hotter, but that the temp. inside the earth was getting cooler but yet we are still setting new record highs. Why is that?
There are still alot of unanswered questions, but the reality is that if we continue on the same path that we could very well find that our planet becomes unlivable for mankind as we know it.
Up here in NY, this past winter was colder and longer than it has been in a while, and we’ve recently had a heatwave that was one of the hottest recorded. I actually recall one day this past May where I had to turn the heat on.
I didn’t see any movie making, I helped my wife landscape my sister-in-law’s backyard. Not a Hollywood type here…:)
My point is not that man doesn’t have some influence on the environment, he can make lots of trash and cause lots of emissions. Man certainly polluted the Great Lakes, and more recently the Gulf of Mexico. My whole point is that all of these effects are minor compared to the natural earth. We had glaciers that reached nearly the Gulf of Mexico in Earth’s history. We also had very hot times when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. We were even (most probably) struck by a cataclysmic meteor strike, which really damaged the climate for a long time. But the earth shifts between ice age and nearly global heat waves, and there is nothing man can do that the power of God’s natural effects can’t overcome in God’s time. No, that doesn’t mean we can trash our planet.