Enough hot air

Editorial Copyright 1998 St. Louis Post-Dispatch December 4, 1998

President Bill Clinton deserves credit for signing the international global warming treaty negotiated last year in Kyoto, Japan. But with the naysayers in Congress, he will have trouble making good on his promises.

Most scientists agree that global warming is real and dangerous. Pollution from vehicles, power plants and factories is getting trapped in the atmosphere, causing a gradual warming of the planet. This phenomenon threatens dramatic climate changes, including severe floods and droughts, with potentially devastating health, social and political consequences.

In Kyoto, industrialized nations agreed to cut greenhouse gases to a level 5 percent below 1990. For the United States, that would mean cutting current emissions by 7 percent.

Opponents complain that will cost too much. The biggest fear-mongers - including Rep. JoAnn Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau - predict doubling utility rates, skyrocketing gasoline prices and bankrupt businesses. True, cutting emissions is going to cause some pain. But it will be even more costly to our future to ignore global warming and its consequences.

Another sticking point is that many developing countries have refused to sign. Critics argue that America should withhold its pledge until they climb aboard, and Mr. Clinton has said he won't seek Senate ratification until they do.

However, leaders of developing nations complain that their fragile economies will be disproportionately hurt if industrial development is limited. They look at it as economic imperialism that developed countries have benefited tremendously by consuming an inordinate portion of the world's resources. Developing countries deserve time to catch up, they argue.

Reducing global warming will require global cooperation. But rather than playing the waiting game, the United States should lead. Americans are responsible for one-quarter of all greenhouse gases. If the United States does not take seriously its responsibility to cut emissions, neither will other nations.

The final sticking point is over "pollution credits." Individual companies and industrialized countries could buy unused "clean air" credits from developing countries that do not exceed their allowed emissions limits. Critics do not want limits on the credit-buying. But without limits, there is a danger that some companies might try to buy their way out of the problem, rather than looking for actual reductions in greenhouse emissions. The credit concept is a good way for industrialized nations to soften the initial economic consequences. But it is not a long-term solution.

The Senate should eventually ratify the Kyoto Protocol. But while the political wrangling continues, there is a sensible, intermediate measure that offers immediate results. The proposal would offer tax breaks to U.S. companies that voluntarily reduce their emissions.

If nothing is done to curb global warming, the harmful gases that cause it will increase 70 percent by 2020. None of us can afford to let that happen while the politicians blow hot air.

Comments on this posting?
Click here to post a public comment on the Trash Talk Bulletin Board.
Click here to send a private comment to the Junkman.

---

Material presented on this home page constitutes opinion of Steven J. Milloy.

Copyright © 1998 Steven J. Milloy. All rights reserved on original material. Material copyrighted by others is used either with permission or under a claim of "fair use." Site developed and hosted by WestLake Solutions, Inc.