DETROIT – A Nigerian man returned to court Thursday and was sentenced to life in prison for trying to destroy a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas 2009 while on a suicide mission for al-Qaida. As the hearing started, U.WASHINGTON – There’s a lot America can do to improve the environment without adopting a plan that curbs the air pollution emitted by power plants that burn coal, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said Tuesday.
Instead of passing legislation to reduce greenhouse gases – the pollution that comes from burning coal – Congress should focus on conservation, he said.
Lugar met Tuesday afternoon with President Obama, several Cabinet members and 13 other senators to talk about the stalled energy legislation. But he has not been working with three senators – a Democrat, a Republican and an independent – who are trying to come up with an alternative approach to cap-and-trade.
A cap-and-trade approach, widely panned by Republicans and lawmakers from coal-using or coal-producing states, would limit the amount of greenhouse gas a factory or plant could emit but would allow polluters to buy “credits” from other facilities that emit less.
Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., are drafting a bill to apply different carbon controls to different sectors of the economy instead of taking a national approach.
But that approach isn’t likely to win Lugar’s support.
“Rhetoric and legislation are focused primarily at climate change while most Americans are more interested in oil reductions and economic impacts,” he said. “We should concentrate this year on those policies that will save energy and money.”
Lugar said his approach is practical and focuses on things that will save people money without involving the federal government deeply.
He said he does not have a draft bill but its key areas include rewriting building codes to require more energy-efficient homes and commercial buildings, and low-interest loans to retrofit existing buildings; higher requirements for vehicle gas mileage; more domestic oil production, such as off-shore drilling; a national mandate for using clean energy that gives states options such as nuclear, clean coal and renewable sources.
Lugar also said the Obama administration should be more aggressive with the tools it has.
“For example,” he said, “Indiana electric car companies have been waiting more than a year to hear about their loan guarantee applications.”
