SENATE TO BRING CARBON CAPS?

Congress to reconsider caps on carbon; McCain, Obama among sponsors of bill to curb global warming
January 12, 2007 (AP via MSNBC.com)

- Potential presidential rivals John McCain and Barack Obama are joining with newly independent Sen. Joe Lieberman on a plan they say would reduce annual global-warming gases by two-thirds by mid-century…intended to cut the heat-trapping emissions by 2 percent a year…sure to produce a contentious debate on climate control in the new Democratic-run Congress and draw strong opposition from the White House and industry…

- McCain, R-Ariz., Obama, D-Ill., and Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, are calling for mandatory caps on greenhouse emissions for power plants, industry and oil refineries. Their plan would require releases of heat-trapping gases to return to 2004 levels by 2012 and to 1990 levels by 2020…U.S. emissions of [CO2] have increased an average of about 1 percent year since 1990…

- As a compromise, the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee is preparing a more modest bill that would slow the growth of greenhouse gases. Under the proposal by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., annual emissions would continue to increase until 2030 and then perhaps decline.
- McCain and Lieberman…legislation was defeated in the GOP-controlled Senate; Bingaman withdrew his after it became clear he lacked the votes for passage.

More on carbon caps here and here.