White House Floats New Climate Proposal

Bush Administration Trying To Persuade Conservatives To Support Limited Cap On Greenhouse Gases

(AP)  Facing an assertive Democratic Congress, the Bush administration is trying to persuade Republican conservatives to support a limited cap on greenhouse gases to avoid a "train wreck" of regulations involving climate change.

A range of options presented last week at a meeting of senior White House officials and a group of Republican lawmakers was aimed at gauging the reaction to a possible shift of administration policy on climate change.

"The meeting was set up to float a few trial balloons," said a party operative who was briefed on the meeting. It did not go well, the operative said, as some participants viewed it as "political appeasement" on global warming.

The informant said the response was so negative that the administration may be retreating on the issue.

White House press secretary Dana Perino acknowledged Monday that the administration was working on new climate change proposals but said no position has been taken. "We're having a very robust discussion," Perino told reporters. "There's a basket of things that we're dealing with."

At the meeting, White House officials outlined a range of options that were being considered, from simply proposing a set of "principles" to proposing to cap greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, according to two individuals familiar with the discussions.

The Bush administration has been a staunch opponent of a mandatory "cap-and-trade" approach to reducing greenhouse gases, preferring largely voluntary measures to deal with global warming broadly.

"We aren't necessarily against cap-and-trade proposals," Perino said Monday, but she added quickly, "What we've seen so far from Congress is not something that we can support."

The Senate is expected in June to begin debate on legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman, an Independent, and Republican John Warner, that would cap greenhouse gas emissions from most sources and allow polluters to buy emission permits instead of making actual reductions. It is designed to cut U.S. emissions 70 percent by mid-century. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives also is planning to draft climate legislation soon.

Among proposals floated by the administration at the meeting last week was one that would limit the emissions cap to electric power plants, while allowing a "safety valve" should the cost be found to be too high. The Senate bill has no such escape valve and covers emissions almost across the economy.

The administration's views were presented by James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Keith Hennessey, director of the president's economic council.

Among those at the meeting were Rep. Roy Blunt, the No. 2 House Republican; Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the ranking Republican on the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming; and Rep. John Shimkus. All are members of a group of House Republicans who have been critical of cap-and-trade climate legislation.

The meeting was first reported on Monday by The Washington Times.

Indications are growing that mandatory action to address global warming is highly likely, if not now, in the next year or so. All three presidential candidates - Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama and the presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain- have said greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, must be reduced.

At the same time, the administration is facing growing pressure to regulate carbon dioxide under the existing federal clean air law.

"We are dealing with what we call a regulatory train wreck," Perino said Monday, using language similar to that used by the White House officials during their meeting with the Republican lawmakers last week.

The Environmental Protection Agency has been told by the U.S. Supreme Court that carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, is a pollutant and must be regulated if the EPA determines it is a danger to health and welfare.

At the same time, the U.S. Interior Department is under pressure to give polar bears special protection under the Endangered Species Act because of disappearing Arctic sea ice that threatens their viability. A lawsuit also has been filed under the same law for more protection for arctic seals.

Together these cases would pull the enforcement of the federal Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act into the debate over climate change. This is a "regulatory trajectory ... we think is fraught with peril and that will ultimately end up in a train wreck," said Perino.

The White House officials made a similar case in their meeting with the Republican lawmakers, according to two individuals familiar with the discussion. They were told, however, that the cap-and-trade proposal being considered would be rejected by congressional Democrats, while alienating Republican conservatives.

[leftyintexas]

"We are dealing with what we call a regulatory train wreck," Perino said Monday, using language similar to that used by the White House officials during their meeting with the Republican lawmakers last week.

Yeah, and DOOFUS was at the controls of the train. It figures! Ha!Ha!Ha!

[briannorwood]

It is so sad to see morons like Bush making decisions which affect the entire planet.

[skyk-2009]

These things do happen when you do nothing but deny the problem instead of trying to find a solution. Nothing new for Conservatives throughout our entire history. They are always the last at the table with NO solutions!

[ramos937]

The Bush administration has been a staunch opponent of a mandatory "cap-and-trade" approach to reducing greenhouse gases, preferring largely voluntary measures to deal with global warming broadly.
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Now, with only about 7 more months to go? Not enough time.

[rickstas]

LOL watcher269!!!

[sistatee-2009]

Stick a fork in the United States. It''s done.

[watcher269-2009]

White House Floats New Climate Proposal

Yup - that''s because ***** floats! Even Bushit!

[ubrew12]

Article: "We aren''t necessarily against cap-and-trade proposals," Perino said Monday.

Well, THATs good to hear. Time to take the cap-and-trade approach. If the whole global warming thing ends up being a red herring, we can always backtrack. But, if its real and we dont act now, once the oceans absorb all that heat and ACT on it, it''ll take us a hundred years just to get back to a climate we can enjoy and ''do business in'' (the oceans are an enormous SINK for atmospheric heat).

I would think that now that the Arctic has lost 1/3 of its summer ice coverage, and the polar bear is being considered for endangered species status, people would wake up.

But the power of EXXON is broad, and many have been turned to the ''dark side''.