Ohio lawmakers wary on climate bill
The Columbus Dispatch – Sen. Sherrod Brown isn't ready to back the current Senate climate-change bill.
But that isn't because the Ohio Democrat doubts scientific evidence that man-made greenhouse-gas emissions cause global warming.
Brown has not been swayed by a scandal involving e-mails stolen from a British climate institute that global-warming skeptics say show that some scientists are exaggerating the threat posed by greenhouse gases.
But a Dispatch survey of most Ohio members of Congress shows a key difference in viewpoints: Many Republicans think there is more than one valid stance on the science of global warming and are more skeptical than Democrats about whether there is evidence that warming is at least partially man-made and a major threat…
Brown says a bill is needed — he just wants Ohio consumers and businesses dependent on emissions-producing, coal-generated power to be compensated for the costs of moving to a cleaner-energy economy.
"A wealth of peer-reviewed, scientific studies indicate that climate change is both a natural and manmade hazard," Brown said. "But any bill to address climate change must be a jobs bill. That means a bill that protects and creates U.S. jobs by investing in domestic manufacturing and the clean-energy industry."
