Countering Kyoto

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Countering Kyoto
by James Hall, Associate Editor

February 21, 2002

"Leaning Left"

James Hall There's a new law enforcement strategy in Washington--incentivize non-criminal behavior. Offer the rapist a tax cut not to rape; give the strong-arm thief a tax incentive to behave. Offer tax credits to the polluter to pollute a little less. All right, I exaggerate; only the last statement is completely true.

That's right. The Bush Alternative to Kyoto is to tell major polluters to pollute a little less, and we'll give you a tax break. Not a big one, mind you--the total money offered to polluters is less than four dollars an American. But then the president isn't asking for much, either.

This is the same voluntary strategy, by the way, that worked so well in Texas, moving Houston past Los Angeles as the most polluted city in America, and Texas as one of the most polluted states in the union. Now Dubya (shown, right), the Darling of Big Oil and Big Coal, wants to bring these benefits to the rest of the country. His goal isn't even to reduce greenhouse gases--it's to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas per dollar of economic growth. So in a fast-growing economy of the type that we all hope for, the amount of greenhouse gases produced could actually go up and we'd still meet the Bush Alternative's goals. Not exactly Kyoto, is it?

Ironically, greenhouse gas production already grows at a slower rate than the economy, mainly because of existing air quality laws and because many businesses recognize that pollution wastes money and have in place equipment to control it. But just a slight increase in this trend can cause the president to proclaim success. It's another example of how the Bush people hope to lower expectations for their leader's performance--and then declare victory.

Kyoto is far from an ideal treaty. It is the product of bureaucratic and ideological wrangling, the product of diplomatic back room dealing. In other words, it's a lot like the Bush Alternative, but written by environmentalists instead of industrialists. An effective treaty would include elements of the Bush Alternative and of Kyoto--incentives to develop technologies that reduce greenhouse gases, but also disincentives either to maintain the status quo or increase greenhouse gases.

Former President George H.W. Bush (R-TX) In 1992, George Bush (41st President) signed the Rio Treaty, which pledged to voluntarily bring greenhouse gases down to 1990 levels. Today we're 30% above 1990 levels. Voluntary reductions by themselves have proven to be ineffective. It's time to use provisions similar to the Clean Air Act that worked so effectively against local and regional air pollution.

The air is better in Texas now--but not because of the Bush voluntary plan. When Bush left for Washington, the Texas Legislature made the improvement of air quality mandatory, not voluntary. The US Congress should consider doing the same thing for greenhouse gas reduction. ***

Photo of President George W. Bush (R-TX) courtesy of TAP Photographer Julia Smith
Photo of former President George H. W. Bush (R-TX) courtesy of Grolier Encyclopedia Online