Even after heroic efforts by Sen. Boxer and leading environmental groups to produce a serious global warming bill, it is time to recognize that the current legislation, sponsored by independent Sen. Lieberman of Connecticut and Republican Sen. Warner of Virginia, does not meet any serious test.
Not only that, unless dramatically improved, the legislation provides massive giveaways to the worst polluters while guaranteeing that greenhouse gases will be reduced less than the scientific consensus requires.
Not surprisingly, insider politics have taken over the global warming debate in the Senate. Progress is now being defined as how many votes the legislation can muster, rather than the cost of the deals made to get each vote. Real progress on global warming is no longer the goal. Now the goal is simply votes without progress. For example, Sen. Lieberman is trying to entice John McCain to support the legislation with even more billions for nuclear power. And senators from states that rely heavily on coal burning industries want special bonuses so that they won't be penalized for polluting choices of the past.
The dollar cost of compromise is simply too high - literally hundreds of billions of dollars.
The American people need to know which senators want real action on global warming. We hope that the Senate will vote on an amendment to Lieberman - Warner that adopts the scientific standard of 80 percent reduction without massive handouts to polluters.
If such an amendment fails, it is time to ditch Lieberman-Warner. We can do better.
Please sign the petition to your senators by clicking on the orange button at right. And then be sure to tell your friends who are concerned about how we're going to address the climate crisis.
3 June 2008
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