Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The co-sponsor of a Senate climate change bill says it's possible Congress will pass it even before international talks on global warming in December.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate's environment committee, says she's pushing for approval of the legislation with specific targets to limit greenhouse gases. She adds that the Obama administration "is very strong on this."

The world's nations meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, in early December to try to agree on a new global climate treaty. Boxer says if the bill isn't approved by then it doesn't mean the U.S. isn't making progress in tackling global warming.

The House narrowly passed a climate-change bill in June which would require the same long-term cuts, but the Senate bill has bigger early targets, something many in U.S. industry oppose.