14 October 2009 | Luca Del Buono
Climate Change, Energy, Europe, North America

 

The U.S.'s climate change bill is expected to be approved by the Senate in time for the December Copenhagen conference according, to U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, however; it is still undetermined as to whether or not congress would pass the bill by then.

Senator Boxer's comment stands in direct contrast to Carol Browner, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who a little over a week ago stated that she did not believe a decision on the bill would be reached by December.

The major issue at the conference for the U.N. to decide upon is whether to extend or replace the Kyoto protocol, which establishes a legally binding commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gases.

Thus far, President Obama is in favorable standing with other U.N. countries as a major staple of his administration has been to impose mandatory limits on the emission of greenhouse gasses, (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and sulpher hexafluoride).

Whereas, the Bush administration refused to take such measures because doing so, they believed, would hurt the competitiveness of the U.S. industry. Obama's Energy Secretary Steven Chu, pointed out that although major process is being made he could not confirm or deny that the U.S. would be able to commit to a near-term carbon target in Copenhagen without a bill passed.

"We're not going to lay out plans B, C and D. It doesn't make any sense. We're going to try make plan A work."

Click here for Reuters article

 

Author: Caitlin Martinez

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