McCain-Lieberman Global Warming Bill Rejected by Senate
By Kevin Joy
WASHINGTON – The Senate on Thursday rejected a bill intended to combat global warming by lowering levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
The bill, cosponsored by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D.-Conn., would have capped the amount of greenhouse gases industrial outlets could release. It was defeated by a vote of 55-43, suffering the same fate as the last proposal to fight global warming, which died in 1997.
President Bush opposed the measure, arguing emissions reductions should be voluntary.
Under the latest bill, companies that exceeded the projected annual limit of 10,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas could purchase emissions “credits” from other outlets producing less than the limit -a plan similar in structure to the successful acid rain trading program included in the 1990 Clean Air Act. Any company not meeting the limit would be fined three times the market value for each additional ton of greenhouse gas it emitted.
The bill’s ultimate goal was to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 to levels measured in 2000.
On Wednesday, Lieberman described the legislation, which he sponsored with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as “a modest proposition” and blasted President Bush’s failure to act against global warming. Senators last considered global warming six years ago, when they voted 95-0 against the more stringent Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty on climate change.
But in a statement following his bill’s defeat, Lieberman said congressional attitudes toward environmental issues were steadily improving.
“Today’s vote shows that the political climate is changing on climate change,” he said. “Global warming is now on the front burner of the national agenda.”
Political experts knew the bill’s passage would be a long shot. It faced significant opposition from Republican lawmakers and the Bush administration, which prefer voluntary corporate emission reductions over federal enforcement. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency decided in August that carbon dioxide couldn’t be regulated as a pollutant.
Regardless, McCain said in a statement he was hopeful that the closeness of the vote would create a greater awareness of the problem of climate change when global warming legislation comes up for a vote in the future.
“We’ve lost a big battle today, but we’ll win over time because climate change is real,” McCain said. “You can only win by marshaling public opinion.”
State and local governments now are leading the way on climate change. Last week, 12 states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine, filed suit against the EPA’s decision not to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. At the same time, 156 mayors-including those representing Bridgeport, Hamden, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury and Windham-signed a statement sent to Bush and a host of government agencies in support of the McCain-Lieberman bill.
“We really hoped to get some visibility,” said Susan Ode, the outreach director for the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, the group that organized the mayoral coalition. “It’s an issue that has tremendous support among local governments.”
While Bush argued that the global warming bill could endanger jobs and spike federal costs, a recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said McCain-Lieberman would cost approximately $20 per household per year.
National energy, transportation and manufacturing sectors were responsible for approximately 85 percent of overall U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2000. The farming industry and households would have been exempt from McCain and Lieberman’s reduction requirements.
