Calls to act on global warming precede Bush speech

Washington, Jan 22: Environmentalists, evangelical Christiansand congressional and corporate leaders have called for action onglobal warming in the days leading up to President George W Bush'sState of the Union speech.

Interest is particularly keen because of what Bush said in lastyear's address to Congress and the nation: that ''America is addictedto oil'' and that this addiction should be broken with technologicaladvances and alternative fuels.

Since then, environmental activists and others concerned about theimpact of global climate change -- more severe storms, destructivedroughts, rising sea levels and higher insurance costs -- have lookedfor substantial steps from the White House.

Many have expressed disappointment. Bush's 2006 State of the Unionspeech may have unduly raised expectations, said Ben Lieberman of theconservative Heritage Foundation think tank.

''I thought using the extreme rhetoric last year -- 'addicted tooil' -- was a mistake, because it could make people expect extremeaction, and there really hasn't been,'' Lieberman said in a telephoneinterview.

Asked what the Bush administration has done in the last year tocut US dependence on oil, federal officials said highlights include aone billion dollars tax credit for construction of clean coal plants, a million research program on recycling nuclear fuel, 250 milliondollars to study new biological fuels, and a tightening of fuelefficiency standards for light trucks.

The Bush administration's moves did not impress environmental groups on a telephone news conference on Friday.

'Helping Big Oil'

''We have a White House that has yet to deliveron its own rhetoric about ending our dependence on fossil fuels, and upto now has placed its emphasis on helping Big Oil,'' Betsy Loyless ofthe National Audubon Society said at that briefing.

Bush is expected to call for a big increase in the use of ethanolin tomorrow's speech, according to sources familiar with White Houseplans, but probably will not advocate limits on the emission ofgreenhouse gases -- including carbon dioxide given off by power plantsand vehicles -- which contribute to global warming.

That may not be enough for some major US corporations, whichformed a coalition with environmental advocates to urge Bush andCongress to fight climate change faster.

Known as the United States Climate Action Partnership, the groupincludes Alcoa Inc, General Electric Co., DuPont Co. and Duke EnergyCorp. It plans to publicize its recommendations today, a day before thebig speech.

In another unlikely pairing, evangelical Christians and scientistsfrom Harvard Medical School and elsewhere also banded together lastweek to fight global warming, and called on Bush and others in power todo the same.

The climate change issue prompted bipartisan cooperation inCongress, where Sen. Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat who heads theForeign Relations Committee, joined the ranking Republican, Indiana'sRichard Lugar, to introduce a resolution urging a US return tointernational negotiations on climate change.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who has longadvocated environment-friendly policies, said on Friday, ''It isimportant to our children's health and their global competitiveness torid this nation of our dependence on foreign oil and Big Oilinterests.'' Pelosi also announced the creation of a new congressionalcommittee dealing specifically with global warming, and the House ofRepresentatives passed legislation aimed at ''Big Oil'' that would rollback industry tax breaks and force energy companies to pay moredrilling royalties.

Reuters>