By Richard
Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Negotiations in the U.S.
House of Representatives on how to cut industrial
pollutants that cause global warming reach a
critical stage this week as President Barack
Obama huddles with key lawmakers on Tuesday and
Republicans ready for a fight.
A House Energy and Commerce panel hopes to fill
in details later this week on a bill that aims to
cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse
gases 20 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 --
using 2005 as a base year.
A White House official said the meeting between
Obama and some Democratic members of the panel would
review provisions being negotiated by lawmakers, as
well as the timetable for moving the controversial
legislation through the House.
"Various sources are telling us progress is
being made in the (negotiating) room," said
Manik Roy of the Pew Center on Climate Change, which
supports "cap and trade" legislation that
would impose the new limits on pollutants.
Tony Kreindler, of the Environmental Defense
Fund, added lawmakers were "still very much in
the thick of the negotiations."
Aides to key lawmakers would not provide details
on the negotiations, which continued over last
weekend.
Eben Burnham-Snyder, a spokesman for
Representative Edward Markey, would not say whether
a key subcommittee will convene this week to fill in
details of the bill. Markey, along with House Energy
and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, is leading the
drive.
Waxman told reporters outside the House of
Representatives Monday evening that there was not
yet agreement on a climate bill. "We haven't
reached an agreement that makes everybody
comfortable," he said. He expected that Obama,
in the Tuesday meeting, would "urge us to keep
working."
The goal of cap and trade, a system that has been
successfully used to control "acid rain"
pollution in the northeastern United States, is to
encourage industries to use energy sources that emit
less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
Those sources could be wind, nuclear and solar power
and other alternative energy, as well as cleaner
coal that supporters hope can be developed.
As overall limits on carbon pollution fall,
utilities, steel companies and others that still
pollute more than their limit could buy credits from
firms that pollute less so that their operations can
continue while they work on ways to become cleaner.
With many Democrats nervous about voting for a
bill that Republicans are calling a new national
energy tax, the meeting with Obama likely will be
aimed in part at assuring those lawmakers that the
popular president will stand behind them.
REPUBLICAN AMENDMENTS
Cristie Greco, a spokeswoman for House Majority
Whip James Clyburn, said there was a "positive
and productive meeting" last week between
Waxman and Clyburn over including help for the
nuclear energy industry in the bill.
Former President George W. Bush, urged on by some
industry groups, opposed U.S. participation in
global efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Many
House Republicans are carrying on that fight, saying
the Democrats' climate-change bill will hurt
consumers at a time when the United States is
struggling with an economic recession.
"American families are struggling to make
ends meet, yet Democrat leaders in Washington want
to tax them for using the only energy sources
available to them," said Representative Tom
Price of Georgia, who heads a group of House
conservatives. Continued...
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