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Talks on state-level climate policy were planned for the annual National Governors Association meeting this weekend at a resort on Lake Michigan, where receding water levels have touched off debate over the effects of global warming on the Great Lakes.
"With the states taking action, even if you don‘t have 100 percent of America, you can have 40 or 50 percent or more, and that‘s a good start," Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell said. "We can‘t just wait around for the federal government."
"Technology is the key to addressing global climate change," he said in an interview. "Without advances in technology that are cost-effective, then we all have a serious problem."
Such initiatives would benefit the environment while creating jobs and making the nation more competitive, he said.
Aside from improving national security by reducing dependence on foreign oil, a clean-energy strategy would spur investment in ethanol and biodiesel plants, wind turbines, hydrogen fuel cells, energy-efficient construction, and other technology, he said.
Pawlenty acknowledged his party has "catching up to do" on climate change, but he noted that some of the most outspoken governors on the issue are fellow Republicans.
The EPA plans a decision on California‘s petition by the end of the year, Johnson said. The agency also is drafting nationwide auto emission standards that would be in place by the end of 2008 unless Congress acts first, he said.
Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, where the domestic auto industry is battling congressional efforts to toughen fuel economy standards, said success would come only when all countries - such as rapidly developing China - are playing by the same rules.
"It can‘t be one energy pitted against the other," Manchin said. "Whether it‘s natural gas or oil or coal or wind or solar or whatever, it‘s going to take every bit of this mix to make this country energy independent."
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