Gore Throws Weight Behind Climate Bill

With controversial cap-and-trade climate legislation now in committee, former vice president Al Gore has mobilized his lobbying organization and grass-roots movement behind the bill, even calling some wavering Democrats personally, Politico reports. While some groups feel the measure is too soft on polluting industries, the Nobel Prize winner supports its goal of moving the US toward carbon neutrality.

Gore believes a carbon tax would best curb greenhouse gas emissions, but pushing one through during a recession might be publicly unpalatable. For now, he estimates his organizations have put hundreds of millions into stumping for the current cap-and-trade bill. “He has an organization that has been very effective in the process, talking with members and encouraging support for the bill,” one Democratic representative said. (More Al Gore stories.)