The U.S. Senate voted Monday to go forward with legislation to cut greenhouse-gas emissions dramatically by mid-century. The 74-14 vote was enough to ensure that the chamber will vote on the bill later this week. While the bill isn't expected to pass Congress this year, the U.S. Senate leaders who have been working on it believe they have set the stage for action as soon as next year, when a new U.S. president takes over. Presidential candidates from both parties support mandatory emissions reductions, although Senator John McCain (Republican from Arizona) and Barack Obama (Democrat from Illinois) differ on the details (Conflicting wire stories are reporting that Senator Hillary Clinton will drop out of the race today.)
Congress is acting after a U.N. scientific panel last year said the world needs to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere by 50% to 85% by 2050 in order to prevent, or at least help mitigate, damage from climate change. Scientists say global warming can bring rising sea levels, more severe weather events like intense tropical cyclones, and more deaths from heat waves, floods and droughts.
The biggest question is how will this effort impact the California GHG reduction law that was signed into law last year? The rumor is that California and other states currently working on GHG reduction regulations will go along with a federal program -- and may even allow themselves to be trumped be federal law if the federal law will bring financial benefits to the states. Stay tuned as those details are still in the works.
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