US climate action in balance; world watches nervously

By Chris Cermak May 5, 2010, 13:25 GMT

Washington - From illegal immigration to oil spills and mining disasters, a series of unrelated events in recent weeks have conspired to put climate legislation in the United States on life support.

The stalled debate has far-reaching ramifications.

World climate negotiators have acknowledged that a new global treaty, to curb the greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming, is unlikely to be finalized this year. A chief reason is the US Senate's inaction.

For climate activists, the delay couldn't have come at a worse time. The same week that supporters celebrated the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, negotiations on an overhaul of US climate policy appeared to be unravelling in the Senate.

Talks between three key senators on a bipartisan bill were put on hold. Lindsey Graham, the lone Republican involved in the months-long negotiations, pulled out just two days before the three senators were to unveil their compromise.

In a letter to supporters on April 24, Graham griped that President Barack Obama's Democrats were prioritizing immigration reforms - another hot-button domestic topic - over climate and energy policy. Graham said he had been given past assurances that his energy bill would move first.

'I deeply regret that election-year politics will impede, if not derail, our efforts to make our nation energy independent,' Graham wrote.

Added to Graham's withdrawal was the explosion of an exploratory oil rig last month in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people. The ensuing oil spill has yet to be brought under control, threatening the livelihoods of fisherman and endangering wildlife along the Louisiana coastline.

The spill has prompted a renewed debate over the merits of oil drilling off US shores.

Obama has supported opening some shorelines, in order to win the backing of conservatives and industry groups for a broader cap on pollution levels. But he now faces losing the support within his own party, especially lawmakers from coastal states.

Democratic Senators Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Bill Nelson of Florida said Tuesday that plans to expand offshore drilling should be abandoned. Any climate bill that contained offshore drilling provisions was 'dead on arrival' in the Senate, Nelson told reporters.

A third wrench: the coal mining accident in West Virginia last month, which killed 29 people, threw the spotlight back on the role of coal in the US energy mix. Lawmakers from coal-producing states have been reluctant to support comprehensive climate reforms, while climate groups have insisted coal be taken out of the picture.

The Senate's wrangling puts the administration in a difficult position. Obama has promised to cut US greenhouse-gas emissions 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020. But it is unclear if that pledge could ever be met without the backing of Congress.

Elliot Diringer, an expert on international climate policy at the Pew Centre for Global Climate Change, said governments expect the US to fulfill its obligations with or without the Senate's support.

'There will be an ongoing expectation that the United States make real progress toward fulfilling President Obama's pledges,' Diringer said in an interview. 'The further along we are domestically, the stronger the administration's hand will be in the negotiations.'

Talks over a new global climate treaty are already stalled, the result of an ongoing divide between the US and China, which together emit about 40 per cent of the world's greenhouse gases.

China is looking for more money from industrial nations to curb its own pollution, but has balked at US calls for more transparency to ensure the Communist country meets obligations to cut emissions.

The debate helped derail the Copenhagen climate summit in December, and negotiators meeting for informal talks on Tuesday in Bonn seemed to recognize there would be no deal by next December's summit in Cancun, Mexico, either.

'The rest of the world is watching. Our friends are counting on us for the leadership needed to find global solutions to climate change,' said Frances Beineke, head of the Natural Resources Defence Council, a Washington-based environmental group.

But Diringer argued that all sides must become more realistic: 'There is no point this year clamouring for something that the politics can't deliver.'

Diringer said he expects a global climate treaty - and Senate bill - to be agreed in the next few years. The question is one of timing.

'We're by no means giving up,' he said. 'We'll get there. It's inevitable.'