A Breath Of Fresh Air

President Obama is heading to Copenhagen next month with a promise to reduce carbon emissions by the numbers in the current House legislation.

At the international climate summit in Copenhagen next month, Mr. Obama will tell the delegates that the United States intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions “in the range of” 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, officials said, reflecting the targets specified by legislation that passed the House in June but is stalled in the Senate. Congress has never enacted legislation that includes firm emissions limits or ratified an international global warming agreement with binding targets.

Mr. Obama will travel to the United Nations talks to deliver the promise in hopes of spurring significant progress at the summit. He will appear on Dec. 9, near the beginning of the 12-day session, on his way to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Dec. 10, officials said.

By making the pledge in an international forum, Mr. Obama is laying a bet that Congress will complete action on a climate bill next year with roughly the same targets and will be prepared to ratify an international agreement based on the commitment.

But White House officials acknowledged that those outcomes are uncertain. They will depend in large measure on whether the Democratic sponsors of the climate legislation can win enough votes to pass it and whether major developing nations, notably China and India, deliver credible emissions reduction pledges of their own.

It is indeed a hell of a pile of chips Obama is putting on the table there.  Once again this will come down to a filibuster fight in the Senate.  Republicans will continue to scream CARBON TAX and CLIMATEGATE and pretend that Jeebus will magically fix pollution.  In reality we're in serious trouble as it is.
At least Obama's doing something about it.