In preparation of the climate change Copenhagen conference this week the United States has said it plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions around the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050.
The House of Representatives is on board, in fact those were the specific emissions targets set in a bill it passed last summer, however the ugly head of the Senate rears its head. The legislation hit a stand still, and members from rural, manufacturing and coal states for both sides are raising objections to the terms of the emissions caps, and are seeking changes, including exemptions and subsidies for energy producers and agriculture. Of course…
The real heat of the debate is in the expansion of the “cap and trade” program for trading pollution credits. Critics thought the House bill gave away too much to coal, oil, manufacturing and farm interests. An eventual Senate measure is likely to raise even more objections along these lines.
Will this process derail President Obama’s effort to set greenhouse-gas emissions targets? Or is the overriding goal more important than the opposition to the legislative horse-trading used to achieve it?
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