McCain, Outlines Energy Plan, Calls for `Reasonable' Carbon Cap

[Ron Burgundy]

Bloomberg - April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Senator John McCain (news, bio, voting record), a 2008 presidential contender at odds with some fellow Republicans about the need for stronger government action on global warming, today called for a ``reasonable'' federal cap on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

``Some urge we do nothing because we can't be certain how bad the problem might become, or they presume the worst effects are most likely to occur in our grandchildren's lifetime,'' McCain said today. ``I'm a proud conservative, and I reject that kind of live-for-today, me-generation attitude.''

McCain's speech in Washington on energy and the environment was the last of three major policy addresses he gave this month. On April 25, the-70-year-old senator is set to officially announce his bid for the presidency. While McCain has been the most outspoken Republican calling for a national limit on carbon emissions to combat climate change, today he called for a prudent approach.

``Let's not let urgency breed rashness and irresponsibility,'' McCain said. ``Just as there is danger in doing too little, there is peril in going too far, too fast, in a way that imposes unsustainable costs on the economy.''

McCain repeated his call for a so-called cap-and-trade system, which would allow polluters emitting less carbon than permitted to sell or trade their excess pollution permits to others. McCain said such a market-driven approach would give industries the profit incentive to develop ``clean'' energy technologies and products. It also will help protect U.S. global competitiveness, he said.

Bush Opposes Cap

``America must be first to market with innovations that meet mankind's growing energy and environmental needs,'' McCain said today. ``Government should set the standards, and leave it to the marketplace to win the race.''

President George W. Bush opposes a carbon cap, saying that it would hurt the economy.

A United Nations panel of scientists has said that global warming is ``very likely'' caused by humans and that world temperatures and sea levels will increase by the end of the century. The group warned earlier this month that a hotter planet will increase floods and droughts, damaging infrastructure and displacing millions of people.

McCain also said that U.S. reliance on foreign oil threatens the country's national security and economic well being. ``Our enemies understand the effects on America of a significant disruption in supply -- a crippled transportation system, gasoline too expensive for many Americans to purchase, businesses closed.

Funding Both Sides

``Al Qaeda must revel in the irony that America is effectively helping to fund both sides of the war they caused,'' he said. ``As we sacrifice blood and treasure, some of our gas dollars flow to the fanatics who build the bombs, hatch the plots, and carry out attacks on our soldiers and citizens.''

McCain is calling for the use of alternative fuels, nuclear energy and electric cars. He also said he'd work toward a relationship with China to make coal, a major source of global warming pollution, less harmful to the environment. China may overtake the U.S. as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2009, according to the International Energy Agency.

McCain also said he'd work to promote partnerships between utilities and automakers to accelerate the use of electric cars.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kim Chipman in Washington at kchipman@bloomberg.net .

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20070423/pl_bloomberg/app4_zi8gzuo [link]