Reporters' Notebook

State Delegate Kumar Barve, D-Montgomery, was named the Democratic Leadership Council’s New Democrat of the Week in recognition of his aggressive stance on the environment.

“I’m very honored,” he said. The recognition is just that – an “attaboy,” said Barve. But the DLC is a national organization of moderate Democrats that was once chaired by former President Bill Clinton, so the attention carries some clout.

Barve, along with Sen. Paul Pinsky, D-Prince George’s, is pushing for the Global Warming Solutions Act to pass the General Assembly this year. The bill calls for one of the toughest crackdowns on greenhouse gas emissions in the country — it’s comparable to California’s legislation — and Barve believes that passing it could push the rest of the nation to follow suit.

The bill was recently discussed in a joint hearing before the House Environmental Matters and Economic Matters committees, where Barve faced a barrage of questions from fellow lawmakers on the reality of global warming.

Delegates asked him to prove that global warming is a real problem instead of just part of a rotating hot and cold weather cycle, and asked if increased temperatures could be due to sunspot flare-ups.

“Some of the comments were a little surprising,” said Barve. “The whole thing with sunspots, that was debunked years ago.”

Though Barve admitted the bill will be difficult to pass, he said most legislators realize global warming is a problem.

“A very small number of people have difficulty believing it, and they’re very vocal,” he said. “The majority of legislators understand that it’s a problem.”

–By Capital News Service’s Kate Elizabeth Queram