By Ayesha Rascoe and Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Key Obama administration officials on Wednesday called on Congress to pass comprehensive energy and climate change legislation to reduce U.S. oil imports and fight global warming.
"On this Earth Day, we must state in no uncertain terms that we have a responsibility to our children and their children to curb the carbon emissions from fossil fuels that have begun to change our climate," U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said at a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The session is the second of four hearings this week to discuss draft climate legislation unveiled by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman last month. The bill seeks to lower carbon dioxide emissions to 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and more than 80 percent by 2050.
Waxman warned panel members that "the pace is going to accelerate" during the next four weeks to get an energy and climate change bill cleared by the committee by the end of May, paving the way for a vote before full chamber this summer.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated he will wait for action from the House before bringing climate change legislation before the Senate this fall.
With the economy in recession, however, passing a bill that opponents say will raise energy prices for consumers and businesses will be difficult.
The Energy Department is still reviewing Waxman's proposal, but Chu said it would advance the administration's goals to strengthen the economy by developing the clean energy sector.
In addition to limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring companies to acquire permits to release carbon into the atmosphere, the bill would also mandate that utilities generate 25 percent of electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar energy by 2025.
An Environmental Protection Agency analysis of Waxman's bill found that the bill would raise electricity prices 22 percent by the year 2030 and cost American households an average of $98 to $140 each year through 2050.
EPA head Lisa Jackson said the cost to Americans from the bill would be "modest compared to the benefits that science and plain common sense tell us a comprehensive energy and climate policy will deliver."
"We want to work with you in finding consensus in the coming weeks, so that we can reduce our dependence on oil, create millions of new jobs in innovative energy technologies, and significantly reduce greenhouse gases," Jackson told lawmakers.
Transportation Department Secretary Ray Lahood also pushed Congress to act to cap carbon emissions.
"Aggressive action to reduce the impacts of climate change is needed, and the U.S. must be a leader in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Lahood said.
However, Republican Representative Joe Barton warned that the legislation would cost businesses billions of dollars and "de-industrialize the United States of America." He said it would be like living in America in 1875 if emission levels were cut to proposed levels.
In a separate hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Obama administration's climate control specialist Todd Stern said international talks aimed at curbing carbon dioxide and other pollutants will hinge on Congress' action.
"Unless we stand and deliver, by enacting strong, mandatory nationwide climate and energy legislation, the effort to negotiate a new international agreement will come up short," Stern said.
Countries from around the world are scheduled to meet in Copenhagen in December to try to embrace a new plan for attacking climate change problems.
(Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
