Climate change bill collapses in Senate
Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:40:27 GMT
US Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.)美國參議員約翰克里（麻州）
A long-awaited climate change bill that would put a price on excessive carbon emissions and generate billions of dollars has been postponed indefinitely.
US Senator John F. Kerry's 20 years of climate change plans hit the bottom Saturday after Senator Lindsey Graham, who had allied himself with Kerry on the issue, abandoned the effort in an unprecedented move.
The South Carolina Republican suddenly decided to switch priorities, claiming that that the Senate's Democratic leadership might proceed with a controversial immigration bill first.
"Moving forward on immigration — in this hurried, panicked manner — is nothing more than a cynical political ploy,'' Graham said. “I know from my own personal experience the tremendous amounts of time, energy, and effort that must be devoted to this issue to make even limited progress.''
The bill, which would create a system that prices carbon emissions and leads most of the proceeds to the public in rebate forms, would provide clean energy incentives worth USD 2 billion a year to the coal industry, Kerry told the Boston Globe, calling it "reduce and refund."
The goal of the plan is to cut 17 percent of carbon pollution from 2005 to 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.
"It is going to put America, for the first time in 30 years, legitimately on the road to energy independence, and it is going to reduce pollution in the air," Kerry said.
Giving states a chance to resume stricter regulations, the House bill will temporarily freeze until 2017.
The Senate bill will probably make that freeze permanent; however, according to the bill's draft, lost revenues will be paid to states for such programs.
MSD/MD/MMN
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124401§ionid=3510203
共和黨議員臨陣抽腿 美氣候變遷法案生變
(法新社)2010年4月26日 星期一 13:50
（法新社華盛頓 25日電） 一位關鍵共和黨人士臨陣倒戈、宣布不支持一項折衷的能源暨氣候法案後，重創民主黨 ，也打亂歐巴馬總統的氣候變遷議程。
極具影響力的共和黨參議員葛蘭姆（LindseyGraham），因不滿參院多數黨領袖瑞德（Harry Reid）決定把移民法案移至氣候法案之前，宣布不再支持民主黨人士口中這份煞費苦心商定出來的氣候法案。
葛蘭姆撤銷支持似乎頗出白宮官員意料之外，以至他們不確定該怎麼做出回應。該法案在歐巴馬為達成他對氣候變遷的國際保證和讓美國 經濟不再過度依賴海外原油的策略上，是關鍵一環。
國家經濟會議主席薩默斯（Lawrence Summers）說：「我們需要，也樂見葛蘭姆議員的配合。兩者都很重要。在能源和移民改革上，沒有二選一的必要。」
葛蘭姆昨天的信函，指控歐巴馬政府把「黨派、政治目的」置於能源法案之前，他並警告，「以這種匆忙、應急態度推動移民法，只能算是只顧自己不顧他人的政治伎倆」。
與葛蘭姆一起制定這份氣候草案的民主黨參議員凱瑞（John Kerry）和無黨籍參議員李柏曼（JosephLieberman），取消明天提交此案的計畫，讓他們有時間重組。（譯者：中央社蔡佳敏）
http://hk.news.yahoo.com/article/100426/8/hosx.html
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