Jul. 2--In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill. As he neared the top, the boulder would tumble back down, and he would have to repeat this fruitless task for all eternity.

His fate must not become America's on the climate and energy legislation that narrowly passed the House and has reached the Senate for what could be months of intense negotiations. Much of the argument will revolve around the cap-and-trade provisions to reduce carbon emissions that critics demonize as an economy killer.

No one said change would be easy, but this legislation -- only the first step on the rocky road to a national energy strategy -- has traveled too far to be allowed to roll backward. The fundamental change America needs begins with lowering our heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions.

The Waxman-Markey bill moves the U.S. tantalizingly close to finally achieving a progressive climate and energy policy that would change forever how we create and consume energy. Our economic prosperity, national security and environmental well-being depend on our resolve to wean ourselves from polluting fossil fuels.

The U.S. can't drill itself to energy independence, nor can it continue to embrace dirtier sources when many of our economic rivals are embracing lower-carbon-alternative technologies.

The House bill, which passed by a mere seven votes, is far from perfect, which is why this newspaper urges the Senate to read and improve it before pushing it forward. For example, the targets for renewable energy are too modest, requiring only 15 percent of the nation's power supply to come from clean energy and 5 percent from heightened efficiency by 2020. These standards could be reached in the normal course of business, which undercuts congressional mandates. The Senate should toughen these standards.

Also, there's no serious commitment to nuclear power, which holds great promise for producing the electricity we need for economic and national security, without burning fuels that pour more and more CO{-2} into the atmosphere. The Senate should commit to building more nuclear power plants and find ways to safely dispose of the waste. Focus on ways to increase nuclear power safely, not whether to do it at all.

We'd also like to see the Senate strike through a clause buried in the more than 1,000 pages at the 11th hour that amounts to trade protectionism at its worst. It would require the president to impose a "border adjustment" tariff on certain goods from countries that do not act to limit global warming emissions. This unnecessarily handcuffs future presidents' ability to negotiate meaningful climate control policies and begs for trade retaliation.

These are relatively simple improvements and should not prove deal-breakers. Lawmakers should take a more thoughtful, less politically charged assessment of the bill's cap-and-trade system. This newspaper continues to favor the concept, but, frankly, we're less concerned about the specific mechanism than about sustaining a national commitment to reduce C0{-2} emissions.

We're open to such alternatives as cap-and-dividend, a straight carbon tax or some melding of approaches, as along as lawmakers stay firm on the "cap" part.

Environmentalists and energy experts have done a lot of hard work shoving this boulder up the hill. Now, with the summit in sight, the Senate must provide the last big push.

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