Election results mean U.S. climate action likely by 2010
mongabay.com
November 14, 2006
“Enactment of mandatory U.S. climate action is plausible by 2008, and likely by 2010,” says a new report from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
The Pew Center, which brings together business leaders, policy makers, scientists, and other experts to discuss climate change, says that “the new Democratic congressional majority puts control of the agenda in the hands of policymakers who, to a large extent, favor climate action.”
The Pew Center says that the Senate seems likely to support mandatory climate action, while the House of Representatives is a little less certain but appears to be headed in the same direction. It notes that Senator John McCain (R-AZ), a current front runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, has supported climate initiatives in the past and says that “moderates from both parties might have an easier time voting for a climate change bill if its author is the head of the Republican Party.”
Other factors cited by the Pew Center in coming to its conclusion include Americans’ growing concern over climate change, global warming initiatives by California and northeastern states, and “growing sense” among domestic business leaders that “climate action is inevitable.”
This article is based on a news release from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.