Cut Those Gases

Environmentalists are praising a climate-change bill, which calls for a 20 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and which will be unveiled by the Senate's environment committee this Wednesday.

"This appears to be a very solid start, one we hope will get the attention of the entire Senate and galvanize action this year," Frank O'Donnell, president the environmental group Clean Air Watch, told the Los Angeles Times.

The Senate bill differs slightly from a similar bill taken up by the House earlier this month. It calls for the same overall reduction in emissions, but requires a faster acceleration of cuts, with a cap on emissions to begin in three years, eventually resulting in a 20 percent reduction of emissions from 2005 levels by 2020 and a whopping 83 percent reduction by 2050.

Democratic aides told the Associated Press that the bill includes provisions to benefit the nuclear and natural gas industries in an effort to solicit broader support.

The bill could lead to a vote before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December. Either way, it's a long overdue step toward much-needed environmental legislation.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.