U.S. governors join climate change debate

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Governors across the United States are enacting regional environmental protection agreements to persuade Congress to take action on environmental issues.

Three western state governors -- Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Jon Huntsman Jr., of Utah, and Montana Democrat Brian Schweitzer -- appear Monday in advertisements funded by Environmental Defense, The New York Times revealed Thursday.

The ads are an effort to garner support for climate change legislation before the U.S. Senate.

"In state after state, we're taking action," the governors say in the ad. "Now it's time for Congress to act by capping greenhouse gas pollution."

Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., and John W. Warner, R-Va., are sponsoring legislation to cap carbon emissions to levels 15 percentage points less than 2005 levels by 2020 and establish an emissions trading program for polluting industries.

Governors in nine Midwestern states recently signed an agreement with the premier of Manitoba, Canada, that mirrors the Lieberman-Warner legislation.

Wisconsin Gov. James E. Doyle, a Democrat, said the independent move offset the reluctance of Congress to act. "In the absence of a federal plan we have to move forward," Doyle said.