More good news working to our advantage. I think we should arrange a call next week with the emissions desk to start talking about some bundled renewables/CO2 products for large utilities and industrial customers.

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Bryson, Jesse  
Sent:	Wednesday, September 26, 2001 2:57 PM
To:	Mainzer, Elliot
Subject:	Congress defies Bush on arsenic, global warming

Congress defies Bush on arsenic, global warming
James L Nash
  
09/01/2001 
Occupational Hazards 
Page 47 
Copyright (c) 2001 ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights reserved. Copyright Penton Media, Inc. Sep 2001 
A remarkable feature of the 107th Congress so far is that on some key environmental issues, President Bush is losing support within his own party. 
In the past, when approving funding for environmental programs, Republicans often attached provocative riders designed to weaken environmental enforcement. It now seems as though Congress is "greener" than the new president. 
The GOP-controlled House approved July 27 an amendment that EPA must immediately adopt a standard to reduce arsenic in drinking water that is no weaker than the one finalized at the end of the Clinton administration and suspended by Bush. 
EPA Administrator Christie Whitman wanted to review the Clinton rule, arguing that it was hastily crafted and lacked an adequate scientific basis. Whitman said she was disappointed the House "decided to prejudge the outcome of this issue," noting that the House amendment "would not put a standard in place any sooner than planned under EPA's science-based approach." 
Evidently, few members of Congress relish the prospect of defending to voters higher levels of arsenic in drinking water. A few days later, the Senate joined the House in calling for a tougher standard by a whopping 97-1 margin. A stronger standard seems all but certain, but just how strong remains in doubt. 
Counting earlier votes to block oil and gas drilling, the arsenic vote marked the third time in a month the House rejected Bush administration environmental policies. There are also signs the Senate is growing restive over the administration's handling of global warming. 
Just before Congress' August recess, Sens. Joseph Lieberman, DConn., and John McCain, R-Ariz., called for development of a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The senators plan to introduce legislation that would cap greenhouse gases and create a market through which companies would be rewarded for innovative solutions to the problem. 
The announcement from two of the Senate's leading figures came shortly after a unanimous vote in the Foreign Relations Committee urged Bush to return to the bargaining table later this year with specific proposals for a new global warming treaty. 
The United States did not join 178 other countries July 23 in adopting rules for implementing the Kyoto climate change treaty, which sets binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The administration, along with most members of Congress, opposes the Kyoto treaty because of the belief that it would harm the U.S. economy while exempting developing nations from mandatory emissions targets. 
The growing congressional pressure to do something about global warming may be having an effect. White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card Jr. said Aug. 5 the administration is likely to present new proposals for a global warming treaty when the United States meets with other nations this fall in Morocco. The administration is preparing a plan that calls on power plants to limit greenhouse gas emissions other than carbon dioxide.