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June 7, 2009

US Climate Debate Plays Key Role in Global Fight to Protect Planet
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US Congress prepares to debate new legislation 
As countries around the world mark World Environment Day Friday, members
of the U.S. Congress are preparing to debate new legislation aimed to
slow global warming. From Washington, VOA's Kate Woodsome examines how
actions in the United States may influence the international debate on
combating climate change. Blocks from the U.S. Capitol building, John
Mulqueen navigates a bicycle rickshaw through the traffic on a rainy
Washington street. Mulqueen is one of many drivers in a growing fleet of
bicycle taxis that carry tourists, and sometimes business people, around
the capital. He says his customers enjoy the open-air ride, and feel
good they are not polluting. "There are definitely people you get who
are doing it because they don't want to take a car, or they want to take
it because it's eco-friendly," Mulqueen observed. Eco-conscious tourists
are not the only ones worried about the environment. U.S. President
Barack Obama has made combating climate change a top priority. He laid
out his goals in an address to Congress earlier this year."I ask this
Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon
pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America.
That's what we need," announced President Obama. The U.S. House of
Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill last
month that works towards Mr. Obama's goals. Manik "Nikki" Roy of the Pew
Center on Global Climate Change says it is the first time Congress has
seriously considered legislation to reduce the gases that scientists say
trap heat in the atmosphere and cause the Earth's temperature to rise.
Roy continued, "the most significant part of the legislation is the
requirement that all oil companies, electric utilities, large
manufacturers have to submit an allowance for each ton of greenhouse gas
emissions that they release in a given year. The U.S. is one of the
world's biggest polluters. The legislation would try to curb that by
requiring industries to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenh
ouse gases by 17 percent from the 2005 levels by 2020The full House of
Representatives and the Senate must still consider the bill. House
members from the ruling Democratic Party have put it on a fast-track for
debate this month or next. Rafe Pomerance, the president of the U.S.
environmental group Clean Air-Cool Planet, says the bill is critical to
protecting the Earth. Pomerance explained, "this is a global problem,
but the world will have a very difficult time moving forward in a
meaningful way without strong U.S. participation. And for the United
States to participate, we absolutely need domestic emission control
legislation that is meaningful."Pomerance was a member of the U.S.
negotiating team for the Kyoto treaty on global warming in the 1990s. He
says the environmental measures the U.S. takes now will influence the
international debate on what should replace the Kyoto Protocol when it
expires in 2012."Any treaty that's negotiated will have to accommodate
what the!
  United States does as a domestic manner. If it doesn't, we won't sign
it," he stated. Delegates from 182 nations are holding talks on the
treaty in Bonn, Germany this week and next. They only have six more
months to reach an agreement before they must present their final text
at a United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in December.
Pomerance says the U.S. has not yet shown the political will to lead
international efforts to stop global warming. He says this has to
change, "because the climate system itself, particularly at high
latitudes in the Arctic, for example, is coming apart, to put it mildly.
I mean, we're losing the Arctic sea ice. Greenland is shrinking."The
proposed U.S. climate law and U.N. treaty face fierce debate on how to
balance environmental protection with economic growth. Until official
measures are taken to further cut emissions, eco-conscious citizens
remain a first defense to protect the planet.