Bush sees 'enormous costs' in climate change bill

(Incorporates material from CLIMATE-USA/BUSH (UPDATE 1))

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush slammed a U.S. Senate climate change bill set for debate on Monday, saying the measure would cost the American economy $6 trillion.

The bill's supporters expected this argument, and maintain the legislation's cap-and-trade provisions would in fact create jobs and that the cost of doing nothing about climate change justifies action now.

"I urge the Congress to be very careful about running up enormous costs for future generations of Americans," Bush said at a White House meeting on economy and tax cuts. "We'll work with the Congress, but the idea of a huge spending bill fueled by tax increases isn't the right way to proceed."

He said the bill, known as the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act and set for its first debate on the Senate floor late on Monday, "would impose roughly $6 trillion of new costs on the American economy."

The Bush administration has consistently opposed economy-wide measures to limit climate-warming emissions of carbon dioxide. The United States is alone among major developed countries in rejecting the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol.

Carbon dioxide, which is emitted by fossil-fueled vehicles and coal-fired power plants as well as from natural sources, is a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee and who has shepherded this legislation to the Senate floor, offered a blistering response to Bush's comments.