Global warming is hot topic in Congress
By Janet Hook and Richard Simon, Times Staff Writer
January 30, 2007
WASHINGTON -- All of a sudden, global warming is hot.
After years of languishing on Capitol Hill, efforts to curb global warming have picked up momentum, powered by a growing bipartisan belief that climate change can no longer be ignored.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has declared it a top priority for the House. Presidential candidates from both parties call it one of the biggest issues faced by the next occupant of the White House. Even President Bush, long a skeptic, is sounding the alarm.
That's an abrupt break from the past, when the issue -- the role man-made pollutants play in the increase in the Earth's temperature -- was shrugged off by many politicians. Especially among Republicans, it was regarded as an untested theory or an alarmist fantasy.
Polls show that most Americans believe the studies that show pollution is a cause of climate change. And politicians now are scrambling to keep up with science and public opinion.
Legislation to curb global warming is still a long shot in Congress because there is no consensus on a solution. But almost all the candidates who want to succeed Bush -- from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. -- are far ahead of him in proposing ways to reduce carbon emissions....
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-warming31jan31,0,1195871.story?coll=la-home-headlines