Lawmakers, scientists and advocates in the U.S. intensified calls Tuesday to immediately cut emissions from climate-warming soot — also known as black carbon — as deadlock continues in Congress over far more complicated regulation of carbon dioxide.

"Black carbon is an important, fast-action tool in mitigating long-term warming," said Veerabhadran Ramanathan, one of the world's leading climate scientists, in testimony before the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming.

Although not a greenhouse gas, soot has emerged as a leading contributor to rising temperatures worldwide, scientists say. Limiting these emissions is seen as a relatively cheap and quick way to reign in warming in the short term.

In the launch yesterday of their Earth Day Revolution for climate action, the Sierra Club and more than 40 other groups talked about the need for “Congress to finally push aside the obstruction of the polluter lobby.”

The Sunlight Foundation shed some light this week on that anti-climate action lobby and just how tightly it is woven into the fabric of Capitol Hill.

The foundation used Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln as an example.

More than 40 environmental and social justice groups called on U.S. senators today to declare their independence from big oil and other special interests and finally pass clean energy and climate change legislation.

“We need them to stand up for the workers in Arkansas building wind turbines, for the workers in Michigan building the clean vehicles that will cut our dependence on oil and help clean the air, and for people everywhere who are tired of padding the pockets of big oil instead of protecting the planet for future generations,” Sierra Club President Allison Chin told a crowd on the Capitol lawn.

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• SolveClimate Staff's blog
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The United States should act fast to build up the country's manufacturing industry for renewable energy systems or risk losing green jobs to China and other low-wage nations, according to a new report by advocacy organization Apollo Alliance and Good Jobs First, a labor-oriented research group.

The report's recommendations include fixing the nation's renewable energy stimulus funding so recipients who relocate operations overseas are forced to repay their hefty government handouts.

"We don't currently have the capacity to supply our own demand for clean energy products and systems," Sam Haswell, spokesperson for Apollo Alliance, told SolveClimate.

The U.S. is currently importing about 70 percent of its renewable energy parts from foreign countries, according to the report. If that continues, the report estimates, the U.S. will lose out on 100,000 clean energy manufacturing jobs and nearly 250,000 by 2030.

President Obama laid out an all-of-the-above energy policy in a speech to national business leaders this afternoon: America need nuclear, solar, energy efficiency, and expanded oil and gas production, he said, and “to truly transition to a clean energy economy, we need to put a price on carbon pollution.”

His words suggest White House support for the framework Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are using to write a compromise climate and energy bill.

The wildcard, of course, for that bill — which could be introduced as early as next month — and for any Senate action remains the price on carbon.