Warner quietly emerges as pivotal on Senate climate change legislation

Sen. John Warner has quietly reshaped Senate efforts to curb global warming, despite being immersed in Washington’s rancorous debate over Iraq.

The senior Virginia Republican, who holds the balance of power on the Environment and Public Works Committee, made a surprising decision last month to back controls on greenhouse gas emissions across every industrial sector.

{mosads}This has added momentum to Democratic efforts to approve a climate-change bill, and given hope to advocates that Warner could help forge agreement with the dozen or so Republicans who support some form of cap on emissions.

“Warner is probably the single most important senator at this point,” said Frank O’Donnell, head of the advocacy group Clean Air Watch. “If Warner blesses it, that’s going to carry enormous weight.”

Warner’s views on climate change will be on full display Tuesday at an Environment subcommittee that will hold its final hearing on the subject before he and subcommittee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) unveil economy-wide legislation in early August to cap emissions. Warner is also joining a bipartisan group of senators Tuesday to unveil a bill to “control the costs” of a comprehensive climate bill.

Although Virginia is one of the country’s largest coal producers, Warner has shifted his position as skepticism about anthropogenic global warming has been increasingly marginalized. In 1997, he joined 94 Senate colleagues in voting for a resolution opposing the international Kyoto climate change protocol that had been endorsed by President Clinton. In 2003 and 2005, the senator voted against legislation by Lieberman and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to set economy-wide restrictions on greenhouse gases. But he signaled a shift by voting for a 2005 non-binding resolution calling for mandatory restrictions of emissions.

After Democrats won control of the Senate last election, Warner suggested he would jump into the global warming debate by putting in his name for the top Republican spot on the panel in the new Congress. But he backed off and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the Senate’s most ardent climate-change skeptic, moved into the ranking Republican position.

As former chairman of the Armed Services Committee, with a central role in the Senate fight over the Iraq war, Warner has steered clear of climate controversy in previous years. But in the 110th Congress, despite remaining central to the Iraq debate, Warner has entered the fray on global warming as never before and challenged witnesses at hearings to help him draw firm conclusions.

“I’d be the first to say that I’ve got a lot to learn, and I’m proceeding to do that with a great deal of pleasure to forge ahead in a new area,” Warner told former Vice President Al Gore, who testified before the panel in March.

Warner has moved recently toward supporting a cap on emissions after accepting the view that a warming climate could harm wildlife and national security, the centerpiece of the five-term senator’s résumé.

“Energy is directly related to our national defense,” Warner told The Hill.

He added language this year to the annual intelligence authorization bill to require a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which represents the views of the entire intelligence community, on the geopolitical consequences of global warming.

“Changes resulting from global climate change present potentially wide-ranging threats to the United States that may require military, diplomatic, financial, and other national responses,” Warner wrote in report language accompanying the bill.

Despite his stature, Warner’s efforts have not won over some GOP colleagues. Four Republicans on the Intelligence Committee — Kit Bond (Mo.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Richard Burr (N.C.) — chastised the language calling for a new NIE, saying the intelligence community “is not a think tank.”

Inhofe, who has called man-made global warming a “hoax,” said he would fight whatever Warner and Lieberman develop, warning of the possible drastic consequences to the economy.

“It doesn’t matter who is sponsoring the legislation; Sen. Inhofe will look at each proposal to determine what the real costs and impacts will be on the American economy and what each proposal is purported to accomplish,” said Matthew Dempsey, a spokesman for the senator.

Warner’s support may not deliver broad GOP backing for a climate bill, but it significantly increases the chances that the environment panel will approve the bill. Democrats hold a one-seat advantage on the committee, but Democrat Max Baucus, from coal-rich Montana, has long opposed a cap on emissions. That makes Warner’s support crucial for moving a bill this year. His announcement makes it possible that the panel will mark up a climate bill this fall.

Most Senate Republicans still oppose an emissions cap, but, as with Iraq, divisions are surfacing within the caucus. Three Senate Republicans, including Alaska’s Ted Stevens, an ally of the oil industry who has sparred with environmental groups, are cosponsoring a new economy-wide bill introduced by energy panel Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.).

The dozen or so Republicans who have called for a cap on emissions have supported a variety of proposals, but supporters hope Warner can bridge differences to help reach the 60 votes needed to override procedural hurdles in the Senate. They hope his support will put pressure on President Bush to reverse his opposition to setting a cap on emissions.

“It’s helpful,” McCain said. “Warner is highly respected, highly regarded, so I think it’s very important.”