Lawmakers hear differing views on climate change

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah lawmakers are getting competing views on climate change, one emphasizing the vast scientific consensus about warming trends and man's influence and another raising doubts about the root causes.

At a standing-room-only hearing at the Capitol Wednesday, the Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee heard 90 minutes of testimony on climate change.

University of Utah scientist James Steenburgh, who led a state science panel on the expected effects of global warming in Utah, emphasized that temperatures are gradually rising and people are very likely to blame.

But University of Alabama researcher Roy Spencer offered doubts about that conclusion and said natural climate cycles should be more thoroughly investigated.

Lawmakers held the hearing as they follow Congress' consideration of carbon cap and trade legislation.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)