Bush is left isolated as America turns green

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington

Saturday January 27, 2007

Guardian

For years, the most powerful voice in the US Senate on the environment was

a conservative Republican from Oklahoma, James Inhofe, who famously

declared "global warming is a hoax", and compared warnings about climate

change to Nazi propaganda. This month, he was replaced by Barbara Boxer, a

Democratic senator from California who considers global warming "a

potential crisis of a magnitude we have never seen".

George Bush may have two years to run on his presidency, and remains

personally opposed to mandatory caps on carbon gases, but the change in the

Senate illustrates how the rest of America has moved on. Congress, big

business, state governments such as California, and mayors have embarked on

a course that could bring America into step with the international

community on climate change.

In Congress, Democrats and Republicans have introduced five new bills on

climate change so far this month, which would seek to reduce emissions by

60-80% below 1990 levels by the middle of the century. Other legislation

that would set a higher standard for fuel efficiency in cars is also in the

works.

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has said she wants to see new laws on

climate change by July 4 and, with Democrats now in control of both

chambers, environmental campaigners believe that is likely.

"The president really has to move or this issue will have moved right past

him," Ed Markey, the new Democratic chair of the House energy committee,

told the Boston Globe recently. "I doubt that the president is going to

suddenly embrace a set of policies he rejected for six years. But he has to

deal with the reality that the Congress is making this one of the highest

priorities for this country."

Concern about climate change is no longer a Democratic preserve. John

McCain, a Republican from Arizona, sponsored one of the bills before the

Senate and has made climate change part of his campaign for the 2008

presidency. So have the Democratic frontrunners, Hillary Clinton, Barack

Obama and John Edwards.

In theory, Mr Bush could use his veto to block any such legislation, but

environmental campaigners believe that is unlikely. "It is going to become

increasingly difficult for the president to veto something that has such a

groundswell of support from both sides of the aisle, in the House and the

Senate, and from business," said Eben Burnham-Snyder of the National

Resource Defence Council.

Meanwhile, 31 state governments, mainly in the north-east and midwest, are

taking their cue from California which passed a law last September

requiring a 25% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

Business has also come round, with an alliance of environmental groups and

corporations such as General Electric and DuPont pressing the federal

government for reductions in emissions.

So too have local governments, with a number of mayors promoting

environment friendly policies. In Carmel, Indiana, local government has

promoted hydrogen-powered cars and embarked on a mass campaign of tree

planting; in Austin, Texas, the mayor has plans to harness wind energy and

promote plug-in hybrids.

Many have also signed on to the idea of mandatory controls on emissions,

with more than 370 mayors signing on to a climate protection agreement

initiated by Seattle's civic leader, Greg Nickels.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

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