Senate Democrats pulled a long-stalled measure on global warming from the floor last week after failing to muster enough votes to overcome a Republican-led filibuster.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Sen. John Warner were the prime sponsors of the global warming bill that was scuttled on Capitol Hill.According to the Washington Post, that outcome highlights the obstacles that will stand in the way of enacting meaningful cuts in greenhouse gases, even with a new president and Congress next year. The Lieberman-Warner bill would have required greenhouse gas emissions to be cut 18 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and nearly 70 percent by mid-century.

Some environmentalists, however, cheered the bill's demise. The Environmental Justice Forum on Climate Change, a coalition of more than 25 local organizations representing Asian-American, Native American, African-American, Latino and indigenous communities throughout the country, opposes cap-and-trade policies that they say enrich polluters and may create pollution hot-spots.

Here in New York, it also appears that the state may miss the September launch of an 11-state program meant to fight global warming by limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Click here to read the Albany Times Union story.