The US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved a global climate change bill by an 11-1 vote despite a boycott by Republican members.

As other Republicans boycotted the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s markup of global climate-change legislation on Nov. 3, George V. Voinovich (Ohio) showed up to work with what he said was still incomplete information.

Witnesses at an Oct. 28 US Senate committee hearing generally agreed that natural gas should play a major part in US efforts to address global climate change. They also disagreed on how big a part it should be.

Proposals in an interim report by the Obama administration’s Inter-Agency Ocean Policy Task Force must not interfere with the nation’s ability to safely develop its offshore resources, 68 US House members said on Oct. 26.

A coalition of 15 labor unions and the American Petroleum Institute urged congressional tax policy leaders to support proposals that would protect and encourage the development of high-quality US energy jobs while fortifying national energy and economic security.