Officials Call for Federal Climate Action

Officials Call for Federal Climate Action



March 2007 - Congress needs to enact 
mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions, but federal 
legislation should not impede stricter policies adopted by 
state and local governments, state and local officials told 
the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Thursday. 
"It is imperative for Congress to act … but we shouldn't have 
federal legislation that preempts states that are taking 
aggressive stands," said New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, a 
Democrat. 
Corzine, who recently signed an executive order setting a 
statewide goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 
levels by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050, joined state and local 
officials from California, Washington and Iowa to discuss 
their climate change actions with the committee. 
"They are leading the way for the rest of the nation and 
understand what is at stake for our future," said Senator 
Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat and chair of the 
committee. "They are sending us a signal that we must heed." 
State and local action "should not serve as an excuse for 
inaction at the federal level," added Senator Amy Klobuchar, a 
Minnesota Democrat. 
New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine says the federal action on 
climate change is long overdue. 
Twenty-nine states, with a combined population of more than 
140 million, have some form of climate action plan and 14 have 
set greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. 
Regional cooperation is also emerging, with eight Northeastern 
states working on a regional greenhouse gas initiative and 
five Western states signing a pact this week to address global 
warming. 
"The reason that states are being so aggressive is that there 
isn't a feeling of action," said Corzine, a former U.S. 
senator. "If it is not going to happen at the federal level, 
we want to be aggressive in trying to mobilize as much as the 
country as we can." 
Local officials are also engaged in serious efforts to tackle 
the issue, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels told the committee. 
Nickels said more than 400 mayors, representing upwards of 60 
million people in all 50 states, have signed onto the U.S. 
Mayors Climate Protection Act, pledging to take local action 
to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their own 
communities. 
Local efforts include changes to land-use policies, reductions 
to energy consumption and fuel use, investments in hybrid and 
biofuel vehicles, and increases to energy efficiency, Nickels 
said. 
"We are not just signing a piece of paper," Nickels said. "We 
are making a difference, and laying the groundwork for strong 
federal policies and programs." 
The local and state officials said the federal government 
should approach the problem from all angles, targeting 
emissions from all sectors and adopting higher fuel economy 
standards, stricter building code regulations as well as 
aggressively supporting investments in cleaner energy 
technologies. 
"If we don't think about on a holistic basis, I think we will 
fail," Corzine said. 
Seattle mayor Greg Nickels has cut his city's greenhouse gas 
emissions some 60 percent. 
California officials said their efforts could be serve as a 
ready model for Congress - the state has adopted an 
economy-wide plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 25 
percent by 2020. 
"I ask only one thing," said Don Perata, president of the 
California Senate. "Whatever you do, please don't do anything 
to pre-empt the strides that are being made in New Jersey, 
Washington, California and elsewhere." 
None of the current bills under consideration in either the 
House or the Senate and Boxer, who is leading the push for 
global warming legislation in the Senate, has said she opposed 
preempting state or local actions. 
Other Democrats indicated similar opinions. 
"We have to have as much activity at all levels of society as 
we can," said Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, a New York 
Democrat. 
Republicans on the committee expressed skepticism about the 
effectiveness and wisdom of state, local and regional actions, 
and voiced familiar concerns about the economic impacts of 
mandatory greenhouse gas restrictions. 
"These programs haven't accomplished anything so far," said 
Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican and ranking 
member of the committee. "They are simply empty promises that 
won't be kept and denials about costs that will surely be 
paid." 
"National policy and broad-based international policy is so 
much more valuable on an issue like this," added Senator Larry 
Craig, an Idaho Republican. "I am very skeptical of a 
piece-by-piece solution to a very big problem." 
Senator Kit Bond, a Missouri Republican, said any national 
effort must consider regional differences, noting that his 
state is far more dependent on coal-fired electricity than 
either New Jersey or California. 
"Some of the current climate change proposals have the ability 
to hurt some regions more than others and we have to account 
for that," Bond said. "Putting heavy costs on coal can have 
heavy, unintended consequences." 
Coal-fired power plants are a major source of carbon dioxide, 
the leading greenhouse gas, but the United States has an 
abundant domestic supply of the fossil fuel. 
State and local officials said the federal government must 
take the lead in developing clean coal technology - a view 
shared by Democrats and Republicans on the panel. 
"I believe clean coal technology is absolutely essential," 
Boxer said. 
Demand for such technology will only increase, Clinton added, 
and the government has a vested interest in encouraging 
American businesses to take the lead. 
"We have subsidized the oil and gas industry for decades," 
said Clinton, a presidential hopeful. "It is time to take 
those subsidies, those tax breaks, and put them to work on 
behalf of clean coal and renewables." 
Voinovich said clean-coal technology is "in its infancy" and 
strict measures targeting coal, a leading source of greenhouse 
gas emissions, before the technology is ready could have 
adverse economic impacts. 
"The technology really isn't out there," Voinovich said. 
"Senator Clinton talked about a Manhattan Project and I think 
we are at that stage right now. If we wait for the market to 
do this, it is not going to happen." 





 

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