U.S. Under Mounting Pressure at Bali

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: NYT/AP

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 6, 2007

BALI, Indonesia (AP) -- American climate negotiators refused to back down in their opposition to mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions Thursday, even as a U.S. Senate panel endorsed sharp reductions in pollution blamed for global warming. The United States, the world's largest producer of such gases, has resisted calls for strict limits on emissions at the U.N. climate conference, which is aimed at launching negotiations for an agreement to follow the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.

That stance suffered a blow when the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a bill Wednesday to cut U.S. emissions by 70 percent by 2050 from electric power plants, manufacturing and transportation. The bill now goes to the full Senate....It was the first bill calling for mandatory U.S. limit on greenhouse gases to be taken up in Congress since global warming emerged as an environmental issue more than two decades ago. Republican critics of the bill argued that limiting the emissions could become a hardship because of higher energy costs.

Washington's isolation in Bali has increased following Australia's announcement Monday that it has reversed its opposition to the Kyoto pact and started the ratification process -- winning applause at the conference's opening session. That left the U.S. as the only industrialized nation to oppose the agreement....

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Further momentum for serious greenhouse gas cuts, which experts say are needed to stave off the most destructive effects of rising temperatures, came from a petition released Thursday by a group of at least 215 climate scientists who urged the world to reduce emissions by half by 2050. ''We have to start reducing greenhouse gas emissions as soon as we possibly can,'' said Australian climatologist Matthew England, a group spokesman. ''It needs action. We're talking about now.''...

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Bali-Climate-Conference.html

[Turbineguy]

1. Under pressure?

You'd think having to go to Bali would be bad enough!:sarcasm: