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Global warming tussles erupt
09/02/2007 08:10 - (SA)
Washington - Global warming tussles
erupted on Thursday on Capitol Hill and at the White House,
where the top spokesperson was grilled about US President George
W Bush's early stance on the causes of climate change.
Spokesperson Tony Snow fielded questions about an "open
letter" released on Wednesday by two White House officials
complaining that some media stories inaccurately described Bush
as coming late to the idea that human activities spur global
warming.
The letter included a quote from a Bush speech in 2001, in
which he cited a National Academy of Sciences report that said
climate change was "due in large part to human activity".
The US government has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol,
which sets ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gases that
are believed to contribute to rising global temperatures and
changing weather patterns.
The United States is responsible for one-quarter of the
world's emissions of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas.
Snow gave a fuller excerpt from Bush's 2001 speech, which
dwelled on the uncertainties of the science on climate change,
natural fluctuations in climate and the open question on the
possible impact that various human actions have on it
A report on global warming released on February 2 by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated with 90%
certainty that humans are the main cause.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat and
environmentalist, cited the report in testimony before the
House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee,
taking aim at Republicans in Congress who were in the majority
until November.
"For 12 years, the leadership in the House of
Representatives stifled all discussion and debate of global
warming," she said. "That long rejection of reality is over, to
the relief of members, I believe, on both sides of the aisle."
'This is about working together'
Pelosi called for mandatory caps on greenhouse gas
pollution, which the White House and many Republicans reject.
She said she hoped to have legislation on global warming
and energy independence ready by July 4, which she called
Energy Independence Day.
Pelosi preceded four scientists who worked on the report,
and like them was compelled to answer the committee's questions - a departure from a tradition in which fellow members of Congress are excused from taking questions after testimony.
The issue was forced by Rep James Sensenbrenner, a
Wisconsin Republican, who asked, "What are you planning to do, Madame Speaker, to make sure that we don't legislate on this area in a way that wrecks our economy and costs our workers
jobs?"
Pelosi said technological innovations and bipartisan
co-operation would be needed to confront the problem.
"This isn't about running roughshod," she said. "This is
about working together."
In the Senate, California Democrat Barbara Boxer pressed
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Bush's global warming
policy.
"I think the world's a bit perplexed at our very slow
response to this threat," Boxer said at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Rice replied that the Bush administration had partially
funded the intergovernmental report and spent $5.8 billion a
year on the issue.
"Yes, I believe that global warming is a problem," Rice
said. "We ought to be very active and we are."
US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman told the House Energy and
Commerce Committee the Bush administration would continue to
oppose a mandatory limit on US greenhouse gas emissions.
But Bodman said he would work with Congress to craft a bill
to fight global warming.
- Reuters
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