Washington DC - Congressional Democrats today released clean energy legislation that establishes a market-based cap-and-trade program for reducing global warming pollution from electric utilities, oil companies, and factories that together are responsible for 85 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

    Henry Waxman of California, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Edward Markey who chairs the Energy and Environment Subcommittee introduced a discussion draft of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, or ACES, which they say charts a new course toward a clean energy economy.

    "This legislation will create millions of clean energy jobs, put America on the path to energy independence, and cut global warming pollution." said Chairman Waxman. "Our goal is to strengthen our economy by making America the world leader in new clean energy and energy efficiency technologies."

    "This legislation will create clean energy jobs that can't be shipped overseas, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and make America the global leader in energy technology," said Chairman Markey, who has held many hearings on the major issues in the bill.

    Markey said, "We will create jobs by the millions, save money by the billions, and unleash energy investment by the trillions."

    "Chairman Waxman and I will work with our colleagues to ensure that we are protecting American consumers and that our clean energy future helps all parts of the country," he said.

    Washington - At its first negotiations on climate change, the Obama administration is trying to persuade other countries that the United States does care about global warming and wants to shape an international accord.

    After eight years on the sidelines, the United States says it is ready for a central role in developing a new agreement to slash greenhouse gases. But whether the country, which is the second-largest source of heat-trapping pollution, is ready to sign onto a deal by year's end could depend on Congress.

    The State Department sent climate envoy Todd Stern to Bonn, Germany, for the first of a series of largely technical meetings that begin today. The talks are intended to lay the groundwork for an agreement to be signed in December in Denmark.

    Stern, in a telephone interview Thursday from London, said it was important for him to "make the first statement on behalf of the United States and say we're back, we're serious, we're here, we're committed, and we're going to try to get this thing done."

    Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is hosting the Bonn talks, said participants "will be very excited" to hear Stern outline the basic principles that will guide the United States.

    Other countries are expecting a new tone after the Bush administration made clear its disdain for any climate discussions aimed at securing a commitment to mandatory greenhouse gas reductions.

    From an Antarctic research base and the Great Pyramids of Egypt to the Empire State Building in New York, illuminated patches of the globe went dark Saturday for Earth Hour, a campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.

    Time zone by time zone, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries joined the event sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund to dim nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The campaign began in Australia in 2007 and last year grew to 400 cities worldwide.

    Organizers initially worried enthusiasm this year would wane with the world focused on the global economic crisis, said Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley. But he said it apparently had the opposite effect.

    "Earth Hour has always been a positive campaign; it's always around street parties, not street protests, it's the idea of hope, not despair. And I think that's something that's been incredibly important this year because there is so much despair around," he said.

    Crowds in Times Square watched as many of the massive billboards, including the giant Coca-Cola display, darkened. Steps away, the Majestic Theater marquee at the home of "The Phantom of the Opera" went dark, along with the marquees at other Broadway shows.

    Mikel Rouse, 52, a composer who lives and works nearby came to watch what he called "the center of the universe" dim its lights.

    "C'mon, is it really necessary? ... All this ridiculous advertising ... all this corporate advertising taking up all that energy seems to be a waste," Rouse said.

    Washington - The White House is reviewing a proposed finding by the Environmental Protection Agency that global warming is a threat to public health and welfare.

    Such a declaration would be the first step to regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act and could have broad economic and environmental ramifications. It also would likely spur action by Congress to address climate change more broadly.

    The White House acknowledged Monday that the EPA had transmitted its proposed finding on global warming to the Office of Management and Budget, but provided no details. It also cautioned that the Obama administration, which sees responding to climate change a top priority, nevertheless is ready to move cautiously when it comes to actually regulating greenhouse gases, preferring to have Congress act on the matter.

    The Supreme Court two years ago directed the EPA to decide whether greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, pose a threat public health and welfare because they are warming the earth. If such a finding is made, these emissions are required to be regulated under the Clean Air Act, the court said.

    "I think this is just the step in that process," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, noting the Supreme Court ruling. Another White House official, speaking anonymously in deference to Gibbs, predicted "a long process" before any rules would be expected to be issued on heat-trapping emissions.

    But several congressional officials, also speaking on condition of anonymity because the draft declaration had not been made public - said the transmission makes clear the EPA is moving to declare carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases a danger to public health and welfare and views them as ripe for regulation under the Clean Air Act.