Climate Change

This week begins a showdown on climate legislation in the House Energy Committee. The Democrats have votes to pass it -- but at what price?

"Dust storms accelerated by a warming climate have covered the Rocky Mountains with dirt whose heat-trapping properties have caused snowpacks to melt weeks earlier than normal, worrying officials in Colorado about drastic water shortages by late summer."

"A new analysis halves longstanding projections of how much sea levels could rise if Antarctica's massive western ice sheets fully disintegrated as a result of global warming."

Marathon negotiations seem to have produced a deal on key points of climate-and-energy legislation among House Democrats. Energy Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) announced late Tuesday that he though he had enough votes to pass the compromise. It reportedly gives away about half of the CO2 credits to utilities and other heavy industry -- instead of auctioning them.