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You’de think it would make it harder, but this from today's Buffalo News

Obama going to climate summit with vow: 17% less U. S. emissions
By H. Josef Hebert
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated: November 26, 2009, 7:38 AM / 3 comments
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WASHINGTON—Putting his prestige on the line, President Obama will personally commit the United States to a goal of substantially cutting greenhouse gases at next month’s Copenhagen climate summit. He will insist that America is ready to tackle global warming despite resistance in Congress over higher costs for businesses and homeowners.

Obama will attend the start of the conference Dec. 9 before heading to Oslo, Norway, to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. He will “put on the table” a U. S. commitment to cut emissions by 17 percent over the next decade, on the way to reducing heat-trapping pollution by 80 percent by midcentury, the White House said.

Cutting U. S. carbon dioxide emissions by one-sixth in just a decade would be likely to increase energy bills, but the administration says there would be important health trade-offs.

Carol M. Browner, Obama’s assistant for energy and climate change, cited a $173-per-year estimated cost in a briefing Wednesday — a figure for a family of four calculated by the Congressional Budget Office. Republicans say costs would be higher.

But slashing carbon dioxide emissions could save millions of lives, mostly by reducing preventable deaths from heart and lung diseases, according to studies published this week in the British medical journal Lancet.

The White House said Obama’s decision to attend the international conference in Denmark was “a sign of his continuing commitment and leadership to find a global solution to the global threat of climate change.”

But Obama’s stopover on the conference’s second day — instead of later when negotiations will be most intense and when most other national leaders will take part — disappointed some European and U. N. climate officials, as well as some environmentalists.

Others said Obama’s personal appeal will resonate with the delegates from more than 75 countries and help reset the U. S. image on the climate issue after eight years in which the Bush administration staunchly opposed mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases.

Yvo de Boer, the United Nations climate chief, said that it is important for the United States to establish emissions reduction targets and a financial commitment to helping developing countries address climate change.

“If he comes in the first week to announce that, it would be a major boost to the conference,” de Boer told the Associated Press.

The president’s first trip to Copenhagen — just last month — was less than fruitful. He made an unsuccessful pitch for the 2016 Summer Olympics to be held in Chicago.

Obama’s participation had been in doubt since it became clear that the Dec. 7-18 conference was unlikely to produce a binding agreement. The original goal of the conference was to produce a new global climate change treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. But in recent weeks, it became clear that delegates were likely to produce at best an outline for an agreement to be considered late next year.

The White House said Obama’s commitment to a 17 percent emissions cut from 2005 levels by 2020 would be the first step toward an 80 percent reduction outlined in legislation before Congress. It said Obama is expecting “robust mitigation contributions” from China and other emerging nations as part of any final agreement.

Obama pressed for cooperation on climate change in meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing last week and with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a state visit at the White House on Tuesday.

The White House said that it also will send a half-dozen Cabinet secretaries to the talks, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary F. Locke, as well Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, whose agency is preparing regulations to cut greenhouse gases.

The high-profile delegation is intended to reinforce Obama’s stance, despite the bitter debate in Congress. The House narrowly passed legislation requiring a cap on greenhouse gases from power plants and industry, but it’s still unclear whether Senate Democrats will be able to muster the 60 votes needed to approve a similar bill.

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Margret Sullivan the editor who always claims to be un biased , has yet to even acknowledge the scam is over.