As President Dithers, Congressional Leaders Take Lead on Tackling Global Warming

As President Dithers, Congressional Leaders Take Lead on Tackling Global Warming
Statement by Kevin Knobloch, President, Union of Concerned Scientists

"The scientific consensus is clear: global warming is already underway, human burning of fossil fuels is primarily responsible, and we must act very soon to have any hope of minimizing the most harmful impacts of climate change. To have a fighting chance to keep global warming within safe levels, countries like the United States must reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 80 percent below 2000 levels by 2050—and we must begin to make those reductions right away.

"Regrettably, the Bush Administration has not only failed to demonstrate leadership, but has actively worked to misrepresent climate science. That abject failure of leadership is not only increasing the risks of global warming but also holding back U.S. companies. Far from hurting our economy, an aggressive rollout of clean energy technologies will help move our economy into the future and create hundreds of thousands of high quality jobs.

"What we need now is leadership that responds to the science with action. Today, a bipartisan group of senators and representatives are providing that leadership with the introduction of the Climate Stewardship Act. The Act creates an economy-wide market-based mechanism to begin the reduction of global warming emissions. We applaud Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and Representatives Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) and John Olver (D-MA) for their commitment to taking action on this critical issue...