Gore highlights new US push on climate change

Olivier Knox Yahoo News 25 Jan 09;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Al Gore will exhort US lawmakers to renew US leadership on battling climate change next week, as "green" groups push for quick, sweeping action from President Barack Obama and a friendly Congress.

Gore will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday as Democrats -- who now control the White House and enjoy sizeable majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives -- seek to wield their new power.

"He understands the urgent need for American engagement and leadership on this issue. America must act decisively," ahead of December UN talks on the issue in Copenhagen, said Democratic Senator John Kerry, the panel's chairman.

Kerry "wanted to send a message that this is going to be a priority for the committee going forward this year. He wanted to set the tone, set the agenda," and get his colleagues' attention, said a committee staffer.

Gore's testimony comes as environmentalist groups hope for a 180-degree turn from what they, and much of the world, viewed as former president George W. Bush's foot-dragging approach on fighting global warming.

"We have something frankly we haven't had for eight years: Close, positive coordination between the White House and Congress," said Tony Kreindler, communications director for the Environmental Defense Fund.

"I don't think you can even begin to measure that. That's huge," Kreindler told AFP by telephone.

Obama has said he wants to commit to reducing US greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and by 80 percent in 2050, mainly through a 150-billion dollar, 10-year program to develop renewable forms of energy.

Republicans say they will apply four principles to any US steps to curb the so-called "greenhouse gases" blamed for global warming, including making sure that they do not leave the US economy at a disadvantage against rising competitors like India and China.

They will also carefully study the economic consequences of a given move, act to promote innovation in "green" technology, and ensure that any given step has real environmental benefits, they say.

Those principles largely reflect Bush's "major economies" approach, which turned on the idea that no climate change response can be effective unless other major polluters like China and India take part.

Among the early possible steps by the new president: Directing the US Environmental Protection Agency to allow California and nearly 20 other US states to regulate "greenhouse gas" emissions from automobiles.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appealed to Obama in a January 21 letter -- one day after the Democrat got the keys to the White House -- to reverse a March 2008 rejection by Bush's EPA.

The measure is among four top priorities for environmental groups like the Sierra Club, and could be among the first big steps announced by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, whom the US Senate confirmed late Thursday.

The Sierra Club also hopes Obama will direct EPA to regulate emissions from power plants as pollutants and to take steps to limit the environmental impact of the coal industry, as well as setting a target for reducing US "greenhouse gas" emissions by 35 percent by 2020, the Club said.

And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants a full House vote on "cap-and-trade" legislation.

Such steps have drawn opposition from Republican allies like the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Competitive Enterpise Institute -- and activists warn that Obama's election may actually mean a much tougher fight.

"In the past, they though such legislation wasn't going to become law, so they didn't come out shooting with all guns a-blazing," said Kreindler. "Now they have something to shoot at, and a reason to shoot at it."

"This is now Obama's policy," he said. "This is a very political target. It's not just about climate, it's about the president's agenda."