Let the Climate Change Debate Begin!

Things are about to get hot on Capitol Hill. Today the Senate takes up the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill, and politicians on both sides are bracing for a messy debate. Observers say it’s unlikely to pass – even if the bill got enough votes, it would certainly be vetoed by President Bush – but it serves as a warm up for next year, when Congress will raise the issue again, under a new administration. All three presidential candidates support some form of global warming regulations. Just about everyone sees the writing on the wall: the federal government must regulate the emission of greenhouse gases, and it must act soon to stave off the most negative impacts of global warming. Last week, the Bush administration issued a climate change report on the potentially dire consequences to ecosystems, agriculture and public health. Meanwhile, corporations such as Ford and ConocoPhillips have been meeting regularly with environmental groups for over two years in an attempt to shape a climate change policy that won't bite too deeply into their profits. The Lieberman-Warner bill would create a cap-and-trade system similar to the approach used in the 1980s to curb sulfur emissions that caused acid rain. The bill would set a maximum amount of greenhouse gas that could be released each year, and would dole out emission permits to power plants, refineries and factories. Companies that found ways to reduce emissions could sell their extra permits, providing an economic incentive for companies to clean up. The bill would create an entirely new industry: The carbon market, which experts say