Global warming not only is real but is "primarily human-induced," the U.S. State Department has concluded in its draft 5th Annual U.S. Climate Action Report.

According to the report, climate change effects include the thinning of ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland, rising sea levels, thawing permafrost, vanishing mountain glaciers, and warmer ocean temperatures.

Senate legislation on climate and energy authored by Democrat John Kerry, Republican Lindsey Graham and Independent Joe Lieberman is expected to be introduced on April 26.

Meanwhile…

Republican senators have introduced a bill that would prohibit federal agencies from considering the climate in reviews conducted under the National Environmental Policy Act.

The bill would specifically forbid the documentation, prediction, or proposed mitigation of the climate impacts of federal projects. The bill's authors claim such an analysis would not generate useful information so they will seek to forbid the gathering of this information entirely.

The bill seeks to undermine a White House draft guidance released earlier this year that recommends NEPA should include climate impact analysis of any project that would cause more than 25,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas per year.