Environment groups target Senate races on climate

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. environmental groups joined forces on Thursday to target Senate candidates in Colorado, New Hampshire and New Mexico, aiming to elect a 60-vote majority to deal with global warming.

Environmental measures have failed to clear Congress by "a handful of votes in the Senate" in recent years, the groups' leaders said, noting the legislation to fight climate change is set for debate by the full Senate this year.

"This issue is too great for half-measures," said Ivan Frishberg of Environment America in a telephone briefing. "We need a Senate that will make the short-term carbon reductions without handouts to major polluters."

The bill headed for debate is the first that proposes mandatory limits on emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, which is produced by petroleum-fueled vehicles and coal-fired power plants among other sources.

The groups are seeking 60 seats because that is the number needed to overcome a procedural hurdle that can block Senate action on bills.

The coalition of environmental groups is supporting Rep. Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat, for that state's open Senate seat, against former Rep. Bob Schaffer; Udall's cousin, Rep. Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat, for an open Senate seat; and Former Democratic New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen for in a Senate race against incumbent Republican Sen. John Sununu.

In all three cases, the coalition said, there is a clear choice for voters who want to protect the environment. They noted that all three of their choices are Democrats but said they have supported pro-environment Republicans in the past and may yet do so this year.

The coalition consists of the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, the League of Conservation Voters, Clean Water Action and Environment America, which is a federation of state environmental action organizations.

This group united in 2006 to help defeat California Republican. Rep. Richard Pombo for his anti-environmental stands as chairman of the House (of Representatives) Resource Committee, in favor of Democrat Jerry McNerney.

The coalition spent more than $1.7 million in that contest and expects to spend "a significant amount of money" in each of the three targeted Senate races this year.

This year's efforts will include statewide polling and research, door-to-door canvassing, grassroots organizing, paid media buys on television, radio and online.

(Editing by David Wiessler)

(For more Reuters information on the environment, see blogs.reuters.com/environment/ )