Will the Kyoto Treaty be revived?

Opponents of the Kyoto Treaty on climate change and greenhouse gases fear President George W. Bush may be "going wobbly" on his decision two months ago to bury it. Giving in to the green fear-mongers, they say, would be neither good science, nor good politics.

It certainly wouldn't be good economics.

The Clinton administration's Energy Department estimated that reducing carbon-dioxide emissions to meet Kyoto's target would cut U.S. gross domestic product by 4.2 percent a year – or more than $400 billion.

A separate study by WEFA Inc. found that Kyoto would "reduce the average annual household income of Americans by $2,700 (and) cost 2.4 million U.S. jobs."

The treaty sets national limits on emissions of greenhouse gases – not net emissions after carbon storage is taken into account.

A 1998 article in Science magazine by a group of Princeton University scholars indicates that the U.S. is a net reducer of carbon dioxide because of its extensive forests and farmland.

While the CO2 produced by U.S. cars and factories is sucked up by its extensive green acreage, paved-over Europe is, overwhelmingly, a net emitter of CO2.

Scientists who are sceptical of global warming theories, and who number in the thousands, say the main problem with Kyoto is that it is a drastic solution to a problem that may not even exist.

Source: James K. Glassman (American Enterprise Institute), It's No Time to Go Wobbly on Kyoto, Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2001.

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http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB989540737880978802.htm

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