Senators near vote on global warming policy

WASHINGTON – Industry groups and environmentalists lobbied to sway lawmakers’ votes Monday as the Senate prepared for a major challenge to President Bush’s global warming policy.

The Senate was set to consider two proposals as part of a broad energy bill this week that would, for the first time, call for mandatory limits on industry’s release of heat-trapping gases many scientists believe are warming Earth.

The Bush administration has argued against mandatory climate-related emissions caps, contending that its voluntary program is reeling in the growth of so-called “greenhouse” emissions, if not actually reducing the tons annually being released into the atmosphere.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., met with other Republican senators Monday to gauge support for a compromise provision offered by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. It would require the growth of heat-trapping pollution be reduced by 2.4 percent annually between 2010 and 2020.

There has been growing momentum to address climate change in the energy legislation, with a number of Republicans joining Democrats in arguing that the nation’s energy blueprint must deal with the problem.