"Now is not the time to put a national sales tax on every electric bill and every gasoline purchase," Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, who sits on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, told reporters.

"I'm open, as are several Republicans, to cap-and-trade, but it's getting increasingly difficult to think about it in the middle of a recession," said Alexander, who represents Tennessee.

US President Barack Obama favors the approach, which sets a cap on the total pollutants companies can emit and then forces heavy polluters to buy credits from entities that pollute less -- creating financial incentives to fight global warming.

Cap-and-trade, already in practice in the European Union, is likely to be reinforced at UN climate talks in Copenhagen this December as the preferred strategy for slashing "greenhouse gases" blamed for climate change.

Energy Secretary Stephen Chu was pressed about the Obama administration's aims for the carbon market at a hearing of the Senate Budget Committee.

The Nobel laureate scientist did not go into details, other than to note that cap-and-trade proposals feature in Obama's proposed 3.55-trillion-dollar budget.

"Such legislation will place a market-based cap on carbon emissions and drive the production of more renewable energy in America," Chu said.

"It will provide the framework for transforming our energy system to make our economy less carbon-intensive, and less dependent on oil."

But Kent Conrad, the Budget Committee's Democratic chairman, fretted over the impact of Obama's budget on both companies and poorer people if utilities pass on the costs of government pollution permits to their customers.

"The budget as written probably can't pass here," Conrad warned Chu, demanding "flexibility" on how the government intends to offset the costs attached to a cap-and-trade system.

Republican Senator Mike Enzi, a skeptic about climate change legislation, also warned Chu about the scheme's impact at a time of deep economic distress.

"Cap-and-trade is a tax and that tax will be passed on to the consumer," he said.

Alexander and Enzi joined other senators from both political parties in urging Chu first to increase the government's support for nuclear power and so-called "clean coal" before instituting an EU-style market for polluters.

"I am very reluctant to impose any sort of cap-and-trade, even on power plants, this year in the middle of a big recession," said Alexander, who also sits on the Budget Committee.

Some European nations have voiced uncertainty about whether Obama and Congress can follow through on promises to force sharp reductions in carbon emissions due to the US economy's battered state.

But left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders insisted that Obama would not back down on hard-hitting steps, as the new administration reverses former president George W. Bush's refusal to join international action against climate change.

"Follow the money on this one. You can say anything you want to say, but he is investing in all of the right things," Sanders told reporters. "I think he's off to a pretty good start."

Related Links

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

Paris (AFP) March 10, 2009
Imagine a leafy Central Park filled with strolling Parisians where a rundown housing estate now stands, Paris boulevards turned into greenbelts, or a super-fast elevated train for commuters.