New climate bill to be put forth in US Senate

May 12, 2010, 17:16 GMT

Washington - Two US senators were expected Wednesday to propose a climate bill that would break the logjam on long-stalled action and set up a carbon emissions trading programme already approved by the House of Representatives.

Senators John Kerry, a Democrat, and Joe Lieberman, an independent, are to call for an expansion of offshore oil and natural-gas production and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent in the current decade compared to 2005 levels, media reports said.

The bill faces an uphill battle amidst an unprecedented crude oil well rupture in the Gulf of Mexico and the resulting debate over expanding deepwater drilling.

Kerry and Lieberman lost the support of a key Republican, Senator Lindsey Graham, in recent weeks, because the bill would not go far enough to expand drilling.

They also face the loss of support by two key Senate Democrats - Florida's Bill Nelson and New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg - because the bill goes too far in expanding offshore drilling. Both states depend heavily on tourist income from pristine beaches.

'It's a long, tough fight,' Kerry was quoted as saying by Bloomberg news agency. 'We're going to do the best we can.'

A bill similar to the new proposal narrowly passed the House of Representatives in 2009, and would have regulated emissions from almost every sector of the US economy with a cap-and-trade programme.

The Senate bill would set up an emissions trading programme for utilities starting in 2013, and require factories and other industrial sources to join the programme by 2016.

World climate negotiators have acknowledged that a new global treaty to curb the greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming is unlikely to be finalized this year. A chief reason is the US Senate's inaction.