Bush is left isolated as America turns green

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Saturday January 27, 2007

Guardian

For years, the most powerful voice in the US Senate on the environment was
a conservative Republican from Oklahoma, James Inhofe, who famously
declared "global warming is a hoax", and compared warnings about climate
change to Nazi propaganda. This month, he was replaced by Barbara Boxer, a
Democratic senator from California who considers global warming "a
potential crisis of a magnitude we have never seen".

George Bush may have two years to run on his presidency, and remains
personally opposed to mandatory caps on carbon gases, but the change in the
Senate illustrates how the rest of America has moved on. Congress, big
business, state governments such as California, and mayors have embarked on
a course that could bring America into step with the international
community on climate change.

In Congress, Democrats and Republicans have introduced five new bills on
climate change so far this month, which would seek to reduce emissions by
60-80% below 1990 levels by the middle of the century. Other legislation
that would set a higher standard for fuel efficiency in cars is also in the
works.

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has said she wants to see new laws on
climate change by July 4 and, with Democrats now in control of both
chambers, environmental campaigners believe that is likely.

"The president really has to move or this issue will have moved right past
him," Ed Markey, the new Democratic chair of the House energy committee,
told the Boston Globe recently. "I doubt that the president is going to
suddenly embrace a set of policies he rejected for six years. But he has to
deal with the reality that the Congress is making this one of the highest
priorities for this country."

Concern about climate change is no longer a Democratic preserve. John
McCain, a Republican from Arizona, sponsored one of the bills before the
Senate and has made climate change part of his campaign for the 2008
presidency. So have the Democratic frontrunners, Hillary Clinton, Barack
Obama and John Edwards.

In theory, Mr Bush could use his veto to block any such legislation, but
environmental campaigners believe that is unlikely. "It is going to become
increasingly difficult for the president to veto something that has such a
groundswell of support from both sides of the aisle, in the House and the
Senate, and from business," said Eben Burnham-Snyder of the National
Resource Defence Council.

Meanwhile, 31 state governments, mainly in the north-east and midwest, are
taking their cue from California which passed a law last September
requiring a 25% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

Business has also come round, with an alliance of environmental groups and
corporations such as General Electric and DuPont pressing the federal
government for reductions in emissions.

So too have local governments, with a number of mayors promoting
environment friendly policies. In Carmel, Indiana, local government has
promoted hydrogen-powered cars and embarked on a mass campaign of tree
planting; in Austin, Texas, the mayor has plans to harness wind energy and
promote plug-in hybrids.

Many have also signed on to the idea of mandatory controls on emissions,
with more than 370 mayors signing on to a climate protection agreement
initiated by Seattle's civic leader, Greg Nickels.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

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Working at the Crossroads of Environmental and Human Rights since 1990
PO Box 7941
Missoula Montana 59807
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posted to ClimateConcern


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