The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on climate change on Tuesday with the incoming and outgoing chairmen disagreeing on the cause.

Incoming chairman Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) acknowledged the problem, pointing to erosion at Native villages that is forcing costly relocation efforts. But he said he wasn't sure whether global warming was entirely man-made.

Outgoing chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) blames the problem on the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. He is sponsoring a bill to curb emissions of these greenhouse gases.

The hearing came after the release of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, an effort of eight nations to describe the environmental impacts of rising temperatures. Six tribal organizations from the U.S, Canada and Russia helped develop the report.

The full climate change report can be found at http://amap.no/acia. Testimony for yesterday's hearing is at http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1340.

Get the Story:
Climate change divides (The Anchorage Daily News 11/17)
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Election Over, McCain Criticizes Bush on Climate Change (The New York Times 11/16)
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Relevant Links:
Arctic Council - http://www.arctic-council.org
Arctic Climate Impact Assessment - http://www.acia.uaf.edu

Related Stories:
Assessment finds Arctic warming more rapidly (11/09)
Bush blocking endorsement of global warming plan (11/4)