Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

America carries weight without Kyoto

H. Sterling Burnett Knight Ridder

WASHINGTON – The Kyoto Protocol for the control of greenhouse gases arrived stillborn in mid-February, and the event was a cause for celebration for anyone who cares about America’s economy and its workers.

Indeed, even as the champagne corks popped, Kyoto’s apologists were quietly admitting that the treaty would not prevent global warming, stating its importance was largely “symbolic.” After eight years and tens-of-millions of tax dollars spent: Kyoto is, indeed, an expensive symbol!

Contrary to the claims of America’s critics, the United States did not kill the treaty – rather, the seeds of Kyoto’s demise were planted in its very heart when it was created in Japan eight years ago.

If every country party to the treaty met their greenhouse gas targets, the Earth will be a negligible 0.07 degrees Celsius and 0.19 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than it would be absent Kyoto.

This is because swiftly developing powerhouses like China and India are not obligated to cut their emissions, even though they produce nearly half of all current greenhouse gas emissions and are predicted to produce as much as 85 percent of the future increase. Thus, if developed countries stopped all their greenhouse gas emissions, levels would still increase.

Kyoto wouldn’t help the environment, but it would do immense harm to the economy. According to Dallas Federal Reserve economist Stephen Brown, Kyoto’s emission cuts would reduce U.S. gross domestic product somewhere between 3.6 percent and 5.1 percent by 2010. The Department of Energy estimated that Kyoto would cause gasoline prices to rise by 52 percent and electricity prices to rise by 86 percent.

Wisely, the Bush administration charted a different course on global warming. In fact, it has spent more money – more than $6 billion per year – than any other government on the creation and promotion of technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while continuing economic growth.

These efforts include annual expenditures of $700 million in tax credits to promote clean technologies, $3 billion in research on new clean technologies and $200 million to transfer clean technology to developing countries. In the United States, industry is on course to meet the administration’s goal of reducing annual emissions of greenhouse gases per 1.5 percent per unit of GDP.

The administration also raised vehicle fuel efficiency standards for the first time in nearly 30 years. The modest increases should not result in people being forced into less safe vehicles, but will improve vehicle efficiency and thus lower greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition, the administration’s “Healthy Forests” plan should reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires that, in addition to harming wildlife and causing air and water pollution, annually release tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Healthy Forests also will replace stands of dead timber with living trees – dead trees release carbon, while live trees use carbon to grow.

In conjunction with industry, the U.S. government has taken the lead in research into carbon sequestration technologies. As a result, the oil and gas industry annually pumps tons of carbon dioxide underground. This removes carbon from the atmosphere while boosting yields from marginal oil and natural gas fields.

Finally, the Bush administration crafted an international treaty turning the powerful greenhouse gas, methane, into a marketable product.

Department of Energy projections show that by 2015, the Methane to Markets program will remove 1 percent of all greenhouse gases that humans emit into the atmosphere.

This is the equivalent of taking 33 million cars off the road, or shutting down 50 coal-fired power plants or heating 7.2 million homes. In contrast to Kyoto, the program also produces some very tangible economic benefits.

Plugging leaks in natural gas pipelines means saving product. Methane captured at factory farms and landfills or produced from animal and plant waste can be used to fuel local power plants.

Neither the Kyoto Treaty, nor the Bush administration’s efforts will prevent further human-caused global warming. But at least the administration’s efforts have the virtue of promoting continued economic growth, which is necessary if the world is to adapt to the impacts of a warmer world – regardless of the cause.