Published: June 27, 2009 01:57 pm      

Obama implores Senate to pass climate bill

WASHINGTON — Hours after the House passed landmark legislation meant to curb greenhouse gas emissions and create an energy-efficient economy, President Barack Obama on Saturday urged senators to show courage and follow suit.

The sharply debated bill's fate is unclear in the Senate, and Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address to ratchet up pressure on the 100-seat chamber.

"My call to every senator, as well as to every American, is this," he said. "We cannot be afraid of the future. And we must not be prisoners of the past. Don't believe the misinformation out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth."

The legislation would place the first national limits on emissions of greenhouse gases from major sources — such as power plants, factories and oil refineries — to reduce the gases linked to global climate change. It would also start moving the U.S. away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner power sources, like geothermal, wind, solar and more nuclear generators.

The complex bill, which totaled about 1,200 pages, would require the U.S. to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and by 83 percent by mid-century.

Sponsors had originally wanted a 20 percent reduction by 2020 but had to settle with less to win the support from some lawmakers from coal, oil and farm states. Deeper cuts will be needed globally to avert the most serious consequences of global warming, research suggests.

Opponents complain about the costs and say some industries will simply move their operations and jobs out of the U.S. to countries that don't control greenhouse-gas emissions.