Bush Abandons Global Warming Pledge Made During Campaign

by Danielle Knight

Carbon dioxide is one of the main heat-trapping greenhouse gases scientists blame for global warming.

After receiving strong pressure from Republicans and industry organizations, Bush told several members of Congress yesterday that he had decided not to include carbon dioxide in a pollution reduction plan because curbing such emissions would have led to significantly higher energy prices.

"At a time when California has already experienced energy shortages, and other Western states are worried about price and availability of energy this summer, we must be very careful not to take actions that could harm consumers," said a letter by Bush to four Republican senators who criticized the initial plan to reduce carbon emissions.

Environmental groups, which see the move as a major betrayal, immediately condemned Bush's decision as bowing to big business.

"By failing to curb carbon dioxide pollution, President Bush is betraying his pledge to the American people and taking a dive on a crisis with disastrous consequences," said Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club, one of the nation's largest environmental advocacy group.

During his election campaign in September, Bush promised to impose "mandatory reduction targets" for emissions of four main pollutants: mercury, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide.

But in his March 13 letter, Bush said that he did not believe that carbon dioxide should be included because he said it is not considered a "pollutant" under the Clean Air Act.

Bush's reversal surprised many environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers because in recent weeks, Christie Whitman, the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, assured that Bush's original pledge to reduce all four pollutants would be upheld.

Two weeks ago, Whitman also met with European environmental ministers at the G-8 Environmental Summit in Italy where she discussed the importance of acting to reduce emissions that scientists believe cause global warming.

The letter from Bush to four conservative Republican senators, including Jesse Helms of North Carolina and Pat Roberts of Kansas, was a response to a letter sent last week by Senator Chuck Hagel that requested Bush clarify his position on reducing carbon emissions.

In 1997, Hagel co-sponsored a law that passed that says the United States Senate will not ratify any treaty that exempts developing nations from legally binding mandates or that would causes serious economic harm to the United States.

The bill was aimed at the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement which requires industrialized nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 to five percent below 1990 levels.

Industry and conservative lawmakers argue that the Protocol, named after the Japanese city where it was drawn up, would harm the U.S. economy.

In his letter to senators, Bush said he opposed the treaty. But it is uncertain how he will approach future international negotiations to hammer out its details.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for politicians not to acknowledge the potential threat of global warming given recent assessments released by a panel of hundreds of international scientists.

Even Senator Hagel has repeatedly said in recent months that he believes global warming is at least partly caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

Last month the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, comprised of nearly 700 scientists from more than 100 countries, released a report stating that global warming is already seriously impacting ecosystems worldwide and will further widen the gap between industrialized nations and poor developing countries.

The scientists predicted that the average surface air temperature of the planet will rise 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius by the year 2100 relative to 1990. Average sea level worldwide is projected by models to rise 0.09 to 0.88 meters by 2100, they said.

Observational evidence indicates, said the panel, that regional changes in climate, particularly increases in temperature, are causing glaciers to shrink, permafrost to thaw, and wildlife behavior to change worldwide.

An increase in the number of people exposed to vector-borne diseases, like malaria, and water-borne diseases, like cholera, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America, was also predicted.

The Kyoto Protocol, which has not yet been ratified by any industrial nation, is largely seen by most governments as the global solution to reverse the global warming trend.

International negotiations to hammer out the final details of the treaty, however, collapsed in November when the United States and Europe could not agree on giving credits for reducing emissions by preserving forests and changing agricultural practices.

Jan Pronk, environment minister of the Netherlands who chairs the talks, has announced that negotiations will resume in June or July.