Your editorial on global warming (Opinion, Nov. 16) covers important points of the Kyoto treaty discussion and its relationship to the United States, but with a tilt.
Why are concerns about reduced standard of living called ``hysterical fears''? Why is the straw man of de-industrialization raised repeatedly? And does ``with the exception of Canada, the United States uses more energy per dollar of gross domestic product than any of the rich industrial democracies'' mean what it seems to mean, namely that we have the second most inefficient industries in the Western world? Your constant references to industry seem designed to let the reader draw this incorrect inference.
U.S. industries are far more efficient than those of the ``developing'' countries to whom production would be off-loaded by the Kyoto treaty. Our use of energy includes greater use of gasoline for private transportation than other western countries (except, of course, Canada). Maybe we should try to reduce that, but your editorial fails to present this issue honestly, preferring to cast the battle as the good guys versus unresponsive big business.
Richard C. Smith
Sunnyvale
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