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Washington View: Gore tells Congress ‘now is the time to act’
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Climate change
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On Friday, former Vice President Al Gore urged the committee to pass legislation that would force big changes to US climate change and energy policies. Gore likened the proposed legislation to civil rights legislation in the 1960's.
"This bill will simultaneously address the climate crisis, the economic crisis and the national security threats that stem from our dependence on foreign oil," Gore said. "We can't afford to wait any longer for this transition."
Gore listed many of the scientific warnings and problems that have been linked to climate change: rising sea levels in South Florida, and Louisiana, ocean acidification, record floods in Iowa and North Dakota, and stubborn droughts in the Southwest and Southeast United States.
"For these and many, many other reasons, now is the time to act," Gore said.
An initial subcommittee vote on the legislation is expected before the end of April. If it passes, as seems likely, the legislation will then be debated by the entire House of Representatives.
Former US Senator John Warner (Republican - Virginia), co-author last year of a bill that tried to cut greenhouse gas emissions, also spoke. He told the members of the House to "speak in such a way that all levels of America can understand what the challenges are before us, the complexity, the long, rough road ahead to reach these goals."
Click here to view the entire web cast of Gore and Warner speaking before the committee.
Of course, this is only the start of the congressional debate on climate change which will last all of this year and perhaps next.
Jonathan Temple is the director of Bellona USA
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