Bush said to eye mandatory emissions law

14 April 2008 22:20  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--President George Bush may soon declare support for mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions control legislation, sources said on Monday, marking an abrupt and sharp change of White House environmental policy.

 

Sources on Capitol Hill and investment bankers said the White House is close to announcing the broad criteria that Bush would support in a mandatory federal plan to limit and reduce US emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases by industry, the power sector and transportation interests.

 

Previously, Bush has expressed support only for voluntary emissions reductions with an emphasis on incentives and technology advances rather than mandates.

 

As recently as December last year, the chief White House policy advisor on environmental issues, James Connaughton, said that Bush would be an active participant with Congress in discussing “national goals that will include incentives and technology development and measures that will be effective and economically sound”.

 

Kevin Book, an analyst with investment bank Freidman, Billings & Ramsey (FBR), said that White House officials recently held closed-door meetings with top Republicans in Congress to gauge support for a variety of climate change legislative options.

 

However, the White House on Monday did not reply to queries about reports on Capitol Hill that Bush has queried Republican members of Congress about backing for a mandatory climate control bill.

 

Book said the White House outreach to Republicans on the Hill is in part driven by concern that the president and his party must be proactive on climate change issues if they are to influence climate legislation that may emerge from the Democrat-controlled Congress.

 

“Republican backing of mandatory climate regulation also could help presumptive nominee Senator John McCain (Republican-Arizona) build credibility with independents” in the quickening US presidential election campaign, Book suggested.

 

Senator John Warner (Republican-Virginia), cosponsor of S-2191, the “America’s Climate Security Act,” the leading emissions control measure pending in the Senate, said the White House has not approached him on the matter.

 

“There’s been no outreach from the White House on this plan to Senator Warner’s office so we can’t comment on any details,” Warner's spokeswoman said.

 

Cosponsored by Senator Joe Lieberman (Independent-Connecticut), S-2191 (also known as the Lieberman-Warner bill) would impose sharp mandatory reductions of industrial and utility emissions.

 

Other sources challenged speculation that Bush will make a major shift in his policy on climate change. While the White House may make an announcement this week on underlying principles of climate change policy, sources said, Bush is not likely to back severe emissions restrictions that would undermine US industry.

 

Jeff Holmstead, a partner in the Washington, DC, office of law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, disputed reports that Bush may be set to make an abrupt change in climate policy.

 

“My impression is that the administration is considering releasing legislative principles of some sort [on climate control], but I don’t think anyone is talking about a significant shift in White House policy,” Holmstead said.

 

Holmstead, who heads his firm’s regulatory strategies group, said he believes the White House would support “some sort of binding restriction on CO2 emissions, just as the White House has accepted higher fuel economy standards” for US automobile manufacturers.

 

“But I don’t think they would be willing to accept anything along the lines of Lieberman-Warner,” he added.

By: Joe Kamalick
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