Maryland Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin joined 10 other Democrats today in voting to send a climate-change bill to the full Senate for debate.
Despite a boycott by Republican lawmakers, Cardin and other Democrats controlling the Environment and Public Works Committee finished marking up the bill and voted 11 to 1 to report it to the floor.
Its official title is Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, but besides promoting alternative and renewable fuels it promotes a "cap and trade" scheme for curbing emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other so-called greenhouse gases that scientists say are changing the planet's climate.
Cardin, who's said to be weighing attending the United Nations climate-change treaty talks in Copenhagen, Denmark in December, called the legislation good for the country, for the world, and even for Maryland. The state is a leader, the senator said, in developing alternative and renewable fuels. (He might get some argument from advocates of wind power.)
Despite the committee's quick action, it's considered highly unlikely that Congress can tackle and pass the complex energy and environmental legislation in time for the climate talks in Denmark that begin Dec. 7. Still, Cardin said in a statement his office released that other countries won't commit to curbing their greenhouse gases unless they see that Congress is serious. The committee vote was essential to demonstrate "that the Senate is making progress," he said.
"We have an urgent responsibility to act," Cardin said, adding that if action is not taken, there could be irreversible catastrophic climate change that could jeopardize the availability yof water, food and fuel for all. "We will face a world that's less diverse, less beautiful and less secure," he concluded.
(2009 Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum)