Date: 28-Jul-10
Country: USA
Author: Jeff Mason
President Barack Obama pledged on Tuesday to keep pushing for legislation to fight climate change despite a move in the U.S. Senate to focus energy reform more narrowly on offshore drilling.
Senate Democrats unveiled a bill on Tuesday that omits setting caps on carbon emissions -- the key element of a more comprehensive energy and climate bill that failed to gain sufficient support in the Senate.
The Senate bill would require oil companies to cover all oil spill costs by removing the $75 million cap on liability, and provide rebates for purchasing vehicles that run on alternative fuels and making existing homes more efficient.
Obama said it was "an important step in the right direction" but it was not enough.
"I want to emphasize it's only the first step and I intend to keep pushing for broader reform, including climate legislation," he told reporters in the White House Rose Garden after meeting with congressional leaders.
"If we've learned anything from the tragedy in the Gulf, it's that our current energy policy is unsustainable."
Obama, who spoke before details of the Senate proposal were disclosed, did not set out a timetable for a future climate push and it is very unlikely that any legislation on the subject will be passed this year.
If likely Republican gains in November elections change the balance of power in Congress, climate change legislation would face an even more uncertain future.
With that in mind, the White House indicated on Tuesday that climate provisions could be added back into a bill once negotiators from the Senate and the House of Representatives hammer out differences between their respective versions during "conference" talks.
The House bill, passed last year, includes climate provisions to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, when asked whether the administration would seek to do a separate climate bill later after getting a narrow energy-focused bill first, said: "No, I think the process is you get an energy bill through the Senate then you can conference that legislation with the House."
Gibbs said that process could happen in September.
Obama's comments were likely meant as a nod to the international community and environmentalists, who are counting on U.S. action to help advance U.N. talks to form an international pact to curb greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming.
Obama said climate change legislation would create high-wage U.S. jobs in the renewable energy sector.
"We can't afford to stand by as our dependence on foreign oil deepens, as we keep on pumping out the deadly pollutants that threaten our air and our water and the lives and livelihoods of our people," he said.
(Editing by David Storey)
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