Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on their second climate change white paper, “Competitiveness Concerns and Engaging Developing Countries.” The hearing featured an array of witnesses, both from industry and environmental groups, and looked extensively at how best to bring developing countries into climate change legislation that will be largely focused on the American economy. What the hearing outlined more than anything else is the political difficulty in achieving this goal while at the same time making U.S. climate policy WTO compliant.

Chairman Dingell outlined the need for addressing developing nations in his opening statement:

“First, absent corresponding action by developing countries, the adoption of limits on greenhouse gas emissions by the U.S. and other developed countries will not achieve the goal of protecting the global environment;

“Second, if the U.S. were to cap its own emissions without corresponding action by developing countries with whom we compete internationally, the relative cost of American products could increase and cause U.S. industry and jobs to migrate to nations that do not limit their emissions;

“Third, past debate on climate change suggests that Congress would be unlikely to adopt legislation committing the U.S. to limiting its greenhouse gas emissions in the absence of assurances that developing countries will take similar action.”

For supporters of quick action on climate change legislation, Chairman Dingell’s analysis of the need for international agreement and action would seem sobering. Moreover, since the Senate’s 98-0 vote in 1997 criticizing the Kyoto Protocol for its omission of China and India, the position on climate change regulation of certain key House Republicans has not softened on the issue.

In his opening statement, the new Ranking Member of the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Michigan), said he was against any government mandate primarily because it would drive American manufacturing to China. He expressed a preference for developing a system of global trade in technology to counteract CO2 build-up.

Full Committee Ranking Member Joe Barton (R-Texas) averred that “there is probably a less than one percent chance” that human activity is causing climate change, and that we should still be at “the fact finding stage” rather than the solution stage.

Notwithstanding these statements, Chairman Boucher expressed confidence that his subcommittee can draft a bill that is bi-partisan, broad based, addresses competitiveness, and can be signed into law, though he did not offer a timeframe within which this could be achieved.

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