US emissions Bill clears first hurdle

Sunday Canberra Times
Sunday 28/6/2009 Page: 16

THE US House of Representatives has narrowly passed legislation to limit pollution blamed for global warming, handing President Barack Obama an important, hard-fought victory. By a 219-212 margin, legislators voted for the first time to limit carbon emissions and shift the United States economy to cleaner energy in a move proponents said would create jobs and restore the US' shaky leadership on climate change before global talks in December.

Mr Obama said the vote amounted to a victory of the future over the past as well as "a bold and necessary step", and urged the US Senate to pass his clean energy bill. He expressed regret that for decades US politicians had complained about the country's dependence on foreign oil only to see that dependence grow. "We have seen our reliance on fossil fuels jeopardise our national security," he said. "We have seen it pollute the air we breathe and endanger our planet.

And most of all, we have seen other countries realise a critical truth: the nation that leads in the creation of a clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy." The American Clean Energy and Security Act aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020, and 83% by 2050; create "green" jobs, and wean the US economy from oil imports.

The day-long debate pitted supporters who argued the Bill would put a shine back on the l S economy against foes who described the measure's more than 1200 pages as a grim recipe for long dole queues. Minutes before the vote, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi exhorted her colleagues, "Just remember these four words for what this legislation means - jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. Let's vote for jobs."

Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner warned the measure would send energy costs skyrocketing and denounced it as "the biggest job killing bill that has ever been on the floor of the House". The pitched political battle over a central plank of Mr Obama's platform now shifts to the Senate, where the prospects for action this year are uncertain. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid hailed the House's "courageous step" but warned the Bill was not perfect, while vowing to pass bipartisan and comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation in the northern autumn.

The Bill would create a cap-and- trade system limiting overall pollution from large industrial sources and then allocating and selling pollution permits. It would require utilities, by 2020, to get 15% of their electricity from renewable resources - solar, wind, geothermal and biomass - and show annual energy savings of 5%.