Climate Change

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said he expected the eight committees with partial jurisdiction over the new House climate bill to act swiftly.

"Gov. Chris Gregoire on Thursday ordered [Washington] state to reach agreement with its single largest polluter to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by half over the next 15 years."

"U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a 'green new deal' on climate change on Thursday and urged for a final push in negotiations ahead of a key summit to be held in Copenhagen in December."

"The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill by a vote of 33-25 on Thursday evening. It’s a landmark occasion, the first time a serious climate bill has made it this far in the House."

U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide related to energy use fell 2.8 percent last year, driven down by high oil prices and the sagging economy -- the steepest drop since 1982.

Two days of secret meetings in China during July 2008 may have laid the foundation for a new cooperation between the U.S. and China on climate change.

"A climate change bill working its way through Congress this week has been packed with amendments aimed at giving the coal industry a chance to survive if technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions is eventually perfected and deployed."

In the House climate bill, "consumers would receive around $750 billion in direct and indirect handouts and subsidies through 2030 to offset the higher energy costs."

An MIT study published in a major science journal predicts that global warming will be twice as severe as previous estimates.

The House Energy Committe amended its climate bill to include a "Clean Energy Deployment Administration" within the Energy Department that would fund new nuclear plants as well as renewables.