Mar 19, 2008 6:37 pm US/Eastern
Global Warming Bill May Be In Jeopardy
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ/AP) ―
Efforts to make Maryland a national leader in reducing greenhouse gases may be backfiring. That's the feeling of supporters of a global warming bill in Annapolis.
As Alex DeMetrick reports, a last minute amendment may become a poison pill, too bitter for some to swallow.
What we burn may be heating up the earth, but it's a Republican amendment in the Maryland Senate that has backers of a global warming bill steaming.
"The Senate in the state of Maryland has just voted to go ahead and do less on global warming than we've already done, which is really not much," said Brad Heavner with Environment Maryland.
The bill would require Maryland to slash its carbon emissions 25 percent by 2020. The measure is an attempt to address climate change, which scientists believe is being accelerated by emissions of carbon dioxide.
The measure is a lot weaker than the original proposal, which called for a toughest-in-the-nation cap on carbon emissions of 90 percent by 2050.
Lawmakers changed that 90 percent mark to a goal, not a requirement, citing scientific questions about whether the 90 percent drop is even possible.
Before finishing their changes to the bill Thursday, senators further amended it to give themselves more power to reject steps to reduce carbon emissions. They voted to require the Maryland Department of the Environment -- charged with enforcing the carbon cut through measures still to be announced -- to get legislative approval before acting.
Senators also voted to allow the governor to step in and block carbon cuts if he determines that they'd cause "significant increases in electric rates."
The changes came after two days of debate in which senators from both parties worried the carbon cuts would cost jobs and raise power bills. The bill itself does not specify how the carbon cuts would be met -- and supporters say clean-air bills already passed would take care of most of the reductions -- but the measure could lead to required improvements at factories or other changes.
"With our economy the way it is, we need to be protecting jobs as much as we're protecting the environment," said Sen. Nancy Jacobs, a Republican who voted to change the bill to take away authority from the Department of the Environment.
One senator -- Baltimore County Democratic Sen. Norman Stone -- even took his name off the bill. Stone was a sponsor of the measure but withdrew his name because of worries it could shutter the Sparrows Point steel mill in his district.
One of the bill's supporters, Democratic Sen. Brian Frosh of Montgomery county, conceded that the implementation of carbon caps could affect some industries. But he urged the bill's passage anyway.
"Our collective house is on fire," Frosh said. "... I'm not sure what the solutions will be, everyone's got to carry a bucket of water."
After the debate, environmental activists said they hope the measure could be strengthened in the House.
Talking about the legislative oversight amendment, Claire Douglass, Maryland Director of the Chesapeake Action Climate Network, said, "it doesn't gut the bill, but it sets bad precedent."
Opponents insist the carbon cap bill is unlikely to clear the legislature without some assurance lawmakers would be able to stop regulations expected in future years to reduce carbon emissions.
"It is our responsibility to keep the lights on," argued Sen. E.J. Pipkin R-Cecil.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
WJZ.COM's Most Popular Slideshows
