KEEPING THE HEAT ON

The only advantage to Congress’ inaction on climate change bills sponsored by Maine’s senators is that evidence in favor of their legislation continues to build. Sen. Olympia Snowe has reintroduced a bill to require reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Sen. Susan Collins is again pushing for $60 million for the study of abrupt climate change. Both provide concrete, common-sense steps to tackle a growing problem that the Bush administration has failed to take seriously.

The most recent evidence about the severity and dangers of global climate change comes from the World Health Organization, which warned that a 2-degree Celsius rise in global temperature – something scientists say is likely to happen if emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced – could cause as many as 3 billion people to suffer water shortages and disease. The same report, issued earlier this month, found that 160,000 people died last year due to changes in climate, mostly unusually high summer temperatures.

Scientists at NASA announced last week that 2004 was the fourth warmest year on record and that the recent warming trend is the steepest spike in at least 2,000 years.

Last month, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was co-chaired by Sen. Snowe, warned that “global warming is reaching the point of no return, after which widespread drought, crop failure and rising sea levels will be irreversible.” The group, which was formed to find alternatives to the Kyoto Protocol, called on industrial nations to cut carbon emissions and to double research funding on climate change and the development of technology to combat it.

Sen. Snowe’s Climate Stewardship Act addresses the first suggestion. The act would set up a cap-and-trade system to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas. It would require the head of the Environmental Protection Agency to develop rules to reduce emissions from the electricity generation, transportation, manufacturing and commercial sectors, which account for 85 percent of U.S. greenhouse gases. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2010.

Her bill also asks that the National Academy of Sciences report to Congress on potential negative consequences to U.S. business of the Kyoto Protocol, which went into effect Wednesday. Sen. Snowe is specifically concerned that U.S. companies will be hurt if their counterparts in other countries band together to meet the Kyoto standards, but U.S. companies do not. While this review will be helpful, many U.S. companies are already reducing greenhouse gas emissions and making other environmental improvements in the absence of U.S. government requirements to do so because they believe it helps them compete globally.

Sen. Collins’ bill on abrupt climate change research addresses another IPCC priority. The bill would authorize $60 million for research into the new discovery that some climate changes occur relatively rapidly, not only over centuries as was previously believed. It is envisioned that the University of Maine would work with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to oversee the program. The funds would be awarded on a competitive basis to universities across the country.

The bill was caught up in political wrangling last year over the establishment of an arctic research center in Alaska. While more arctic research is clearly needed, this project should not hold up Sen. Collins’ inclusive approach to improve climate studies.

By the time Congress debates these bills, there is bound to be more evidence that climate change is a serious threat. These bills provide reasonable solutions.