State Governors Work Against Climate Change at Regional Level

From the NY Times:

Governors Join in Creating Regional Pacts on Climate Change

By JOHN M. BRODER

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — Frustrated with the slow progress of
legislation in Washington on energy and global warming, the nation's
governors have created regional agreements to cap greenhouse gases
and are engaged in a concerted lobbying effort to prod Congress to
act.

Beginning Monday, three Western governors will appear in a
nationwide television advertising campaign sponsored by an
environmental group trying to generate public and political support
for climate change legislation now before the Senate.

The 30-second ad features Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican of
California; Jon Huntsman Jr., Republican of Utah; and Brian
Schweitzer, Democrat of Montana, standing in casual clothes in
scenic spots talking about the threat posed by greenhouse gas
emissions. The nation's governors are acting, but Congress is not,
they say. "Now it's their turn," Mr. Schwarzenegger says.

Separately, in Milwaukee on Wednesday, nine Midwestern governors and
the premier of Manitoba signed an agreement to reduce carbon
emissions and set up a trading system to meet the reduction targets.
The Midwestern accord is modeled on similar regional carbon-
reduction and energy-saving arrangements among Northeastern,
Southwestern and West Coast states.

The advertising campaign is underwritten by Environmental Defense,
an advocacy group that is pressing for quick action on a climate
change proposal sponsored by Senators Joseph I. Lieberman, an
independent from Connecticut, and John W. Warner, Republican of
Virginia.

The Lieberman-Warner legislation would cap carbon emissions at 15
percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and set up a system for polluting
industries to trade emissions credits to meet the goals. Like other
such bills before Congress, it would provide incentives for research
on capturing and storing carbon dioxide from power plants and
subsidies to help the poor handle the higher costs of electricity in
a carbon-constrained economy.

The bill is now before the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee. The committee's chairwoman, Senator Barbara Boxer,
Democrat of California, said she hoped to bring the bill to a vote
of the full committee by Dec. 6. There is no schedule for action
after that, however.

The governors, who did not receive a fee for appearing in the
advertisement, say state leaders are moving to reduce climate-
affecting emissions, while the current Congress has so far failed to
pass any significant legislation on climate change or energy.

"In state after state, we're taking action," the governors say,
taking turns speaking. "Now it's time for Congress to act by capping
greenhouse gas pollution."

In an interview, Governor Huntsman said, "With just weeks left in
the legislative calendar, there has been no vote yet dealing
realistically with greenhouse gas pollution. We in the West are
already wrestling with it and setting ambitious targets."

He said action on the national level, in the form of the Lieberman-
Warner legislation or a similar economywide carbon cap-and-trade
scheme, was preferable to the patchwork system that state
governments were putting in place.

Governor Schweitzer said dealing with global warming was
the "greatest imperative" of this and future generations. "We need
to find a sustainable, renewable American energy supply so we will
not commit the next generation to fight another oil war," he said.

Mr. Schweitzer added: "Here's a novel concept for Congress. Do
something. Anything. Move."

Environmental Defense is spending $3 million to broadcast the
advertisement, which will appear in 17 markets in 11 states over the
next few weeks, said the group's president, Fred Krupp. The ad will
also appear during the Sunday morning talk shows on Nov. 25.

The Midwestern governors expressed similar impatience with the slow
pace in Washington on global warming and energy issues. They have
banded together to set up a regional emissions control program, to
expand production of biofuels and to cooperate on environmental and
energy infrastructure projects, like an interstate pipeline for
moving carbon emissions from power plants to underground storage
vaults.

Gov. James E. Doyle of Wisconsin, a Democrat who is chairman of the
Midwestern Governors Association, said that the individual states in
his region were all moving independently toward greater energy
efficiency and planned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and that
it made sense to work in concert.

"In the absence of a federal plan we have to move forward," Mr.
Doyle said, speaking from Milwaukee, where he was the chairman of an
energy summit meeting of the Midwestern governors. "On top of that,
this recognizes that, federal plan or no federal plan, the Midwest
is uniquely positioned to be a major force in the developing new
energy world."

He predicted that sooner or later Washington would adopt a national
cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, but he was not optimistic
that it would act before President Bush leaves office.

"I suspect it will require a new administration to come in," he
said. "There's a lot of work to be done to prepare for it. If there
comes a national cap-and-trade system, we will have done a lot of
the work. If not, we will have one in the Midwestern region on a
scale that can work."