They muster more enthusiasm for the G-8 declaration than I can:

As usual we refrain from a political analysis, but as scientists we note that it is rewarding to see that the results of climate science are fully acknowledged by the heads of state.

I don’t refrain from political analysis. Until serious action is taken by all of the G-8 — including us — the hypothesis that our leaders fully acknowledge the results of climate science remains unproven. Anyone who fully accepted the science would take action now.

“Unless Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders step forward,” the newspaper of record opines, the public is in danger of “winding up in worse shape than they were under the Republicans” on energy security and global warming. That seems a bit much — the conservatives did nothing when they were in charge.

Still, they make a strong case:

Exhibit A is a regressive bill drafted by John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat. For starters, the bill would override the recent Supreme Court decision giving the Environmental Protection Agency authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, a decision that even President Bush has reluctantly embraced. It would also effectively block efforts by California and 11 other states to regulate and reduce greenhouse gases from vehicles at a time when the states are far ahead of the federal government in dealing with climate change.

The bill’s fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks are weaker than the president’s proposals and weaker still than standards the National Academy of Sciences says can be met using off-the-shelf technology. And the bill would open the door to a new generation of coal-to-liquid fuel plants favored by the coal lobby that could double the global warming gases of conventional gasoline.

These echo my criticisms, so I can’t disagree too much with the NYT. The only way for the Democrats to prove the Times wrong will be if the leadership steps up and toughens the bill. This will be at important test of the new congressional leadership.

A good AP story on the state of state emissions led to headlines like “Dubious honor: Texas No. 1 in carbon dioxide emissions.” Interesting factoid: Texas emits “more than every nation in the world except six: the United States, China, Russia, Japan, India and Germany.”

The story quotes me:

“There’s no question that some states have made choices to be greener than others,” said former top Energy Department official Joseph Romm, author of the new book “Hell and High Water” and executive director of a nonprofit energy conservation group.

California in particular has been a leader in saving energy and reducing emissions. That’s why, although it is second in total emissions among states, it is 47th (!) in per capita emissions.

Since this was a wire story, it got picked up around the country (with each state spinning it slightly differently): Houston Chronicle and Austin American-Statesman and White Plains Journal News and Winston-Salem Journal and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The Post has a good story on local action to fight global warming:

Municipal efforts to curb greenhouse gases reflect growing public perception that White House has failed to adequately address global warming.

Kudos to Seattle’s Mayor Greg Nickels whose frustration “over the Bush administration’s resistance to the Kyoto Protocol” led to his “U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement” signed by more than 500 mayors “representing 65 million Americans who have pledged to meet the Kyoto Protocol’s standard of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.”

The article has one dubious claim:

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