US climate change bill faces fresh delays

Despite growing support for a change in energy policy, delays over the bill will undermine the US position at the climate change talks in Copenhagen
Danny Bradbury and James Murray, BusinessGreen
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 September 2009 11.53 BST
The Obama administration has reportedly been meeting with clean-technology executives to help flesh out a new energy strategy to be unveiled later this month.
The unveiling of the energy strategy, which is expected to coincide with a high-level UN meeting on climate change to be held in New York, will punctuate a set of increasingly bold moves on the part of the Obama administration intended to secure support for the proposed Waxman-Markey climate change bill as it awaits a crucial Senate vote.
However, that vote now looks set to face further delays after Senate Democrats announced yesterday that the latest version of the legislation would not be unveiled until "later in September".
A Senate vote on the bill, which had originally been passed by the House of Representatives back in June, was originally expected back in July only to see it delayed until early September.
The latest delays were attributed to the on-going row over President Obama's healthcare reforms and continued opposition to the bill from some Democrat Senators who have demanded concessions designed to support carbon intensive US industries.
Critics said that any further delays would seriously undermine the US position at forthcoming international climate change talks in Copenhagen in December.
A spokesman for Senate majority leader Harry Reid said that he fully expected the Senate to have "ample time to consider this comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation before the end of the year".
There was better news, however, for the proposed bill after a Washington-Post ABC news poll of over 1,000 adults which found that 57% support the president's handling of energy policy.
Moreover, 58% of respondents said they would support an emissions cap-and-trade scheme if it only results in modest increases in energy bills of $10 a month, while only 15% agreed with repeated Republican claims that the bill would kill off jobs.
There was also a ringing endorsement for the president's energy efficiency measures, with over 80% supporting legal requirements for car manufacturers to improve vehicle fuel efficiency and over 70% supporting federal requirements to conserve commercial and domestic energy use.
The results will be welcomed by supporters of the bill who have been engaged in an increasingly fraught battle with lobby groups opposed to the legislation, several of whom have been accused of engaging in underhand tactics designed to exaggerate the scale of opposition to the bill.