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The article looks at the reaction of U.S. chemical manufacturers and other fossil-fuel-dependent businesses to legislative efforts by Congress related to climate change, global warming and greenhouse gas emissions. Included in the discussions are energy cost increases due to emission control mandates, increased demand for natural gas, consequences of mandates on carbon dioxide emission control and the cost of safer technologies.

The article reports on the United States' climate-change policies. According to the article, about 13 bills have been introduced in the U.S. Congress that take varied approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions such as tax on fossil fuels and a mandatory system in which carbon dioxide emissions are capped. A group of senators has introduced the America's Climate Security Act that combines elements of 12 previous climate-change proposals.

The article focuses on the growing interests of scientists and policymakers on geoengineering schemes that could mitigate the effects of global warming. It notes that the idea started from the book "SuperFreakonomiks" which asserts geoengineering is an easier, less costly way to deal with climate change than changing the world's economy to low-carbon energy. It also says that geoengineering has significant unintended consequences such as who would be allowed to deploy and govern such projects.

The article discusses the issues that could hinder the formation of a climate-change treaty at the meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark on December 7-8, 2009. Eileen Clausen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, says that U.S President Barack Obama's negotiators would not carry on the treaty until the U.S. has decided on the greenhouse gases emissions cuts. It adds that the lack of money and forging of political agreements also slows the progress.

The article comments on the opposite results of the international efforts to curb ozone depletion and climate change. It examines the political factors that influenced the outcomes of the initiatives such as the mistaken portrayal of climate science. According to the author, it is essential to increase the emotional connection among political leaders to the problems posed by climate change in order for them to encourage public support for environment-friendly programs.

The article discusses a report from the inspector general of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which charges that political appointees in the agency's public affairs office have improperly managed information about climate change from the autumn of 2004 through early 2006. The report adds that the appointees tried to stop Director James E. Hansen of NASA's Godard Institute for Space Studies and its top climate scientist from speaking to the news media.

Presents news items related to government policies affecting the chemical industry in the United States, compiled as of May 2001. Bush Administration's policy on climate change; National Academy of Sciences president's plan to expand the knowledge of science.