Global 1373 St. NVU. 5mm H9O 30003 ENVIRONMENTAL SHOWDOWN 1998 m; 3036839161 F.1x:303.633.1043 Congress and the Clinton Administration are preparing for the environmental showdown of 1998 implementation of the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change. 0 Evidence suggests the Administration is trying to implement the controversial treaty without Senate consent. 0 Critics in Congress and state legislatures are preparing to block implementation unless the US. Senate votes for rati?cation. The Administration is on the record saying it does not need to wait for rati?cation. want to emphasize that we cannot wait until the treaty is negotiated and rati?ed to act.? President Clinton, Oct. 22, I99 7, speech to the National Geographic Society 0 ?Whether there is agreement in Kyoto or not, the United States is prepared, under President Clinton?s leadership, to unilaterally take steps that we believe should be taken in order to deal with this problem.? Vice Praident Gore, Dec. 1997 . ?We are implementing an aggressive plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with programs for energy ef?ciency and clean technology.? President Clinton, speaking in Botswana, Africa, March 31, 1998 Leading members of Congress - from each party - oppose implementation of the Kyoto Protocol until the Senate debates its provisions and impacts and votes for rati?cation. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) forced the top Kyoto negotiator, Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat, to state on the record during a Feb. 11, 1998, Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that the Administration would not use ?back door? rules, budget initiatives, or executive orders to implement the treaty without Senate consent. 0 Global warming supporters Reps. James Greenwood (R-PA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), George Brown (D-CA), Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and David Obey (D-WI) have said no one is disputing that the Administration should not implement a treaty that has not been rati?ed. Some have even expressed doubts about the Treaty. Obey: ?The product that came out of Kyoto was flawed. I have great doubts it will be rati?ed. The House of Representatives approved language in the 1999 VA-HUD Appropriations bill that will prevent additional spending for climate change activities aimed at implementing the Kyoto Protocol. It does not affect on-going, voluntary energy ef?ciency and emissions reduction programs, global climate research and development and balanced, objective informational outreach and educational seminars. Contrary to Eizenstat?s assurances, the Administration is clearly taln'ng steps to implement the Kyoto Protocol through the back door. Its ?ngerprints are everywhere. 0 Although the Administration?s electricity industry restructuring proposal does not include carbon dioxide controls, it includes signi?cant global climate provisions such as a cap on nitrogen oxides and mandatory increases in renewable energy sources while adding ?The Administration?s climate change policy calls for carbon dioxide cap and trade authority to be in place by 2008.? (me) 0 The President has proposed $6.3 billion in tax cuts and research and development funding over ?ve years to encourage innovation, renewable energy, fuel-effluent cars, and energy-ef?cient homes, carving out expensive budget niches for climate change. 0 EPA has requested $230.6 million for climate change programs, more than doubling last year?s ?mding approved by Congress. EPA Administrator Browner said, ?This budget reflects President Clinton?s determination that America shall lead the world in meeting the challenge of global warming.? (EPA ?3 FY ?99 Budget Request) 0 EPA is using its grant-making authority to give states money to develop climate change programs of their own. Most recently, the agency gave Massachusetts $77,000 to dewse a climate change action plan. (EPA Grants) 0 Internationally, the Administration has budgeted more than $800 million in foreign assistance to developing countries to programs directly related to climate change. The budget for the US. Agency for International Development, for example, includes $150 million in direct cash assistance for efforts to promote ?climate friendly? activities. There is $300 million for the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), which helps developing countries protect the global environment and $314 for International Organizations and Programs, i.e. UN and IPCC. (FY ?99 Foreign Operations Budget) 0 In his Botswana speech, the President promised, ?The United States plans to provide a billion dollars over ?ve years to help developing countries combat global warming.? 0 The EPA continues to hold conferences around the country to ?inform? Americans about global climate issues and the effects they will have on the regions, states and communities. They have produced and distributed state-by-state climate impact sheets which offer drastic claims about rising seas and disappearing forests caused by global warming. Most recently, the EPA regional conference in Atlanta focused on ?Emerging Public Health Threats and the Role of Climate Change.? (EPA Conference Materials) 0 The EPA and environmental groups have entered a consent decree that will study ways of controlling carbon dioxide emissions from utilities, aimed at classifying carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Dan Lasho??, of NRDC, says this is attempt to begin implementing the cuts needed to meet the Kyoto Protocol reductions. (Washatgton nines) The nation?s top weather agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), continues to aggressively tie severe weather and El Nino to climate change even though the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate experts and the agency itself clearly state scienti?c evidence suggests ?no causal link between severe weather and climate change.? Vice President Gore and President Clinton have been willing participants in making weather claims as the summer heat continues (NOAA Press Release IPCC: The Science of Climate Change, 1995; Gore Press Conference 7/15) At least 31 state legislatures are acting to prevent implementation of the Kyoto Protocol at the state level until the Senate consents. 0 Fifteen states Alabama, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, South Dakota, Virginia, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Ohio, Delaware, and South Carolina - have enacted resolutions. For more information on these and other global climate issues please contact Frank Malsano (202 628- . . . . 3622. The Global Climate Coalition IS an organization of trade associations and private companies establisheil in 1989 to coordinate participation in the scientific and policy debate on global climate change.