Bush Should Cap Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Democrats
Date: 24-Jan-07
Country: US
Author: Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said it was a good sign Bush is "going to address energy independence and the global warming. It's about time."
But Waxman noted a coalition of corporate chiefs and environmental groups urged Congress and the Bush administration on Monday to put mandatory federal caps on carbon emissions, and institute a so-called "cap and trade" system where companies that emit more than the limit could buy carbon credits from those that emit less.
"What I would want to hear from the president is that he is going to call for reductions, dramatic reductions along these lines -- and they have to be mandatory reductions," Waxman said in a telephone news briefing before the president's speech.
In a preview of the speech, the White House said Bush would ask Congress to set a goal of cutting US gas use by 20 percent over 10 years, through improved vehicle fuel standards and more use of alternative fuels.
Bush will ask Congress for the authority to reform and modernize fuel economy standards for cars. Bush will say Congress should not legislate a specific number for a revised fuel economy standard, but instead use a size-based system in order to avoid compromising vehicle safety by building smaller cars.
ARRANGING TITANIC'S DECK CHAIRS?
Waxman said the president already has the authority to set tighter vehicle fuel efficiency standards.
"Unless we're going to see clearly a reduction in the emissions from motor vehicles ... we're not accomplishing anything," Waxman said. "I'd rather see that in the law and not just leave it to the administration to rearrange the chairs on the deck of the Titanic."
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former energy secretary who is now seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, doubted there would be any substantive plans to address global warming.
"While the president's initiative addressing climate change in the State of the Union address is welcome, what I sense is going to happen is the president's plan is going to be basically incremental steps and that is inadequate," Richardson said at the telephone briefing.
Only in the last year has Bush publicly acknowledged that humans accelerate global warming, which has been blamed for stronger hurricanes, more droughts and wildfires and ultimately higher insurance costs.
But in last year's State of the Union address, he said the United States was "addicted to oil," an addiction that should be broken with technological advances and alternative fuels.