(21 Mar 2007)
1. Various shots of Al Gore shaking hands with committee members prior to hearing
2. Various shots of Gore sitting down at witness table
3. Side shot of committee
4. UPSOUND: (English) Representative John Dingell, Chairman, House Energy and Commerce Committee:
"Welcome back."
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Al Gore, former US Vice President:
"Thank you so much, Mr Chairman. It is an emotional occasion for me to come back to this hearing room."
6. Wide side shot of Gore testifying
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Al Gore, former US Vice President:
(Ends on wide pan shot of hearing)
"America is the natural leader of the world. And our world faces a true planetary emergency. I know the phrase sounds shrill, and I know it's a challenge to the moral imagination to see and feel and understand that the entire relationship between humanity and our planet has been radically altered."
8. Committee members
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Al Gore, former US Vice President:
(Includes various cutaways of hearing)
"What we're facing now is a crisis that is by far the most serious we've ever faced. And the way we're going to solve it is by asking you on both sides of the aisle to do what some people have, as you know, begun to fear we don't have the capacity to do anymore. I know they're wrong. There is a sense of hope in this country that this United States Congress will rise to the occasion and present meaningful solutions to this crisis."
10. Wide shot of Gore testifying
STORYLINE:
Al Gore, a Democratic favourite for the US presidency, despite pronouncements that he's not running, spoke out on his signature issue on Wednesday, warning of a "true planetary emergency" if Congress failed to act on global warming.
In a return he described as emotional, Gore testified before House panels in Washington, DC that it was not too late to deal with climate change "and we have everything we need to get started."
He urged the Democratic-controlled Congress to adopt an immediate freeze on greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
Gore's return to Congress marked the first time he had been in the Capitol since January 2001 when he was the defeated Democratic nominee still presiding over the Senate in his role as vice president.
The former vice president, who 20 years ago held the first hearings in Congress on global warming, appeared before a joint hearing by two House committees.
Gore advised lawmakers to cut carbon dioxide and other warming gases 90 percent by 2050 to avert a crisis.
Doing that, he said, will require a ban on any new coal-burning power plants - a major source of industrial carbon dioxide - that lack state-of-the-art controls to capture the gases.
Gore called the climate crisis "the most serious we've ever faced," and he said, "there is a sense of hope in this country that this United States Congress will rise to the occasion and present meaningful solutions."
Later in the day, he was to testify before a Senate committee that included the current Democratic front-runner for the nomination - Hillary Rodham Clinton.
A former congressman and senator from Tennessee, Gore received a friendly reception from Democrats on the Hill.
But several Republicans sharply questioned his recommendations, calling them "more regulations and more taxation."
Several public opinion polls show Gore among the top three Democrats in the presidential race, although he has said he has no plans to seek the presidency again.
In 2000, he won the popular vote but lost to George W. Bush when the Supreme Court ruled for the Republican in the disputed election.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/476f456829f920acc024628a704b3384
