In an effort to combat the causes of climate change, proposals to collect and publicly disclose accurate information on releases of greenhouse gases are moving forward in Congress. Two recently introduced bills seek to create an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, and during the week of June 18, the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee included a provision in its bill that would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create such an inventory. These efforts move in the direction of collecting accurate information on such a broad environmental challenge and, if the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory is any indication, could help to reduce emissions through the mere disclosure of information. The FY 2008 Interior appropriations bill, which was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 21, includes a provision that would require EPA to issue a rule on reporting greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The bill provides $2 million to establish a program for reporting greenhouse gas emissions from all industry sectors. "This funding is a first step towards helping to understand and reduce our nation's carbon footprint," stated Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), chairwoman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, who issued a press statement along with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, in support of the measure. The House FY 2008 Interior appropriations bill does not include similar language, but it does dedicate $2 million to EPA to begin a rulemaking on reducing carbon emissions. Congress has also introduced two stand-alone bills to create a greenhouse gas inventory at EPA. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) introduced the Greenhouse Gas Accountability Act of 2007 (H.R. 2651) on June 12. "To construct a comprehensive, economy-wide global warming policy, we have to know what we are currently emitting, who is emitting it, and data on where in the economy it makes sense to regulate," said Engel. "A comprehensive registry will give us all the data we need to craft future legislation and intelligently decided [sic] how to allocate credits in a cap and trade system." The Greenhouse Gas Accountability Act would require all publicly traded companies and "significant emitters" of greenhouse gases to report to the EPA and for the agency to make the data available in a publicly searchable format. It also requires publicly traded companies to include data on greenhouse gas emissions in their annual financial reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced the National Greenhouse Gas Registry Act of 2007 (S. 1387) on May 14. Their bill amends the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 to require the EPA to collect and publicly disclose information on greenhouse gas emissions under the annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program. "If weight watchers can have a calorie counter, we can have a national 'carbon counter' so we can figure out the best way to reduce emissions that is good for business and good for the environment," said Klobuchar. The TRI program has been highly successful in demonstrating that simple disclosure of information on toxic pollution can generate significant voluntary reductions. Since the program launched in 1988, it has tracked an almost 60 percent reduction in release and disposal of the chemicals it covered. With these three efforts moving forward, it is looking like the 110th Congress may pass greenhouse gas inventory provisions in some form. Both S. 1387 and H.R. 2651 have been sent to committee, but no markup dates have yet been scheduled. The House is expected to vote on the FY 2008 Interior appropriations bill this week; it is unclear when the full Senate may vote on the legislation.