USA Greenhouse Gases Skyrocketing

USA Greenhouse Gases Skyrocketing



March 2007 - The United States will 
emit about 20 percent more greenhouse gases by 2020 than it 
did in 2000, according to a draft report that the Bush 
administration was scheduled to submit to the United Nations a 
year ago. 
The internal administration report, which was obtained by the 
Associated Press, estimates that U.S. emissions of greenhouse 
gases from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas will rise 
from 7.7 billion tons in 2000 to 9.2 billion tons in 2020 - an 
increase of 19.5 percent. 
The growth in emissions was expected, but highlights how out 
of touch the Bush administration is with world opinion and the 
efforts of other countries to curb climate change. 
The coal-fired Dave Johnston power plant in Wyoming burns 
subbituminous coal. 
The White House Council on Environmental Quality, CEQ, which 
is responsible for the draft report, says that how much the 
administration can do to cut emissions beyond merely slowing 
the rate of increase will become clear "as the science 
justifies." 
The report forecasts increasing droughts and "a distinct 
reduction" in the spring snowpack covering the northwestern 
states, which supplies most of the region's drinking water. 
The United States currently is the largest emitter of 
greenhouse gases - responsible for about one-quarter of the 
world's emisssions. 
When President George W. Bush took office in 2001, one of his 
first acts was to repudiate the Kyoto Protocol signed by 
President Bill Clinton, and it has never been sent to the U.S. 
Senate for ratification. 
A cornfield damaged by drought in central Nebraska. 
The protocol, an amendment to the UN Framework Convention on 
Climate Change, requires most industrialized countries to 
reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent below 
1990 levels by the end of 2012. 
The latest projections from pre-2004 EU Member States (EU-15) 
show that greenhouse gas emissions could be brought down to 
eight percent below 1990 levels by 2010. An October report by 
the European Environment Agency, EEA, shows that "if all 
existing and planned domestic policy measures are implemented 
and Kyoto mechanisms as well as carbon sinks are used, the 
EU-15 will reach its Kyoto Protocol target." 
The next 10 new EU member states also are on track to achieve 
their individual Kyoto targets, despite rising emissions, 
largely due to economic restructuring in the 1990s, says the 
EEA. The two most recent EU member states were not part of the 
block last October when the report was produced. 
President Bush has said that abiding by the Kyoto Protocol 
would hurt the U.S. economy. He has argued that voluntary 
emissions reductions and better technology such as clean coal, 
nuclear power, and energy efficiency would do the job of 
limiting global warming. 
U.S. scientists, businesses and environmental groups say that 
if irreversible global warming is to be avoided, binding 
targets even more stringent than those of the Kyoto Protocol 
should be set. 
Measuring the snowpack on Oregon's Mt. Hood, 2003. The CEQ 
draft report predicts less snow in the Pacific Northwest as 
the climate warms. 
On April 14 campaigners will be demonstrating in cities across 
the United Sttates to call for 80 percent cuts in greenhouse 
gas emissions by 2050. 
The CEQ says its final version of the report will "show that 
the president's portfolio of actions and his financial 
commitment to addressing climate change are working." 
The draft U.S. report comes one month after the 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, issued their 
strongest warning to date - finding that global warming is 
occurring, that humans are "very likely" responsible, and that 
warming is expected to continue for centuries, even if 
greenhouse gas emissions are curbed at once. 
Average global temperatures could rise by over six degree 
Celsius (11 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, the panel 
said. 
The IPCC report was endorsed by 113 governments, including the 
United States. 
The U.S. states are taking the initiative from the federal 
government with four regional programs to curb reenhouse gas 
emissions. California has led the field by aiming to cut its 
emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to meet the target of 80 
percent below 1990 levels by 2050. 
A variety of bipartisan legislation establishing controls on 
greenhouse gas emissions and cap-and-trade plans for the main 
greenhouse gas carbon dioxide are making their way through the 
Democrat-controlled Congress. 
James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on 
Environmental Quality, has said the administration stands firm 
on its belief that regulating carbon emissions would undermine 
the U.S. economy. 
James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on 
Environmental Quality 
"We still have very strong reservations about an overarching, 
one-size-fits-all mandate about carbon," he said in November. 
Connaughton said most bills in Congress aimed at cutting 
emissions of carbon dioxide probably would raise energy 
prices. 
A CEQ spokesperson blamed the delay in submitting the report 
to the United Nations on an "extensive interagency review 
process." 
The Board of Directors of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science warned at its annual meeting in 
February that, "Delaying action to address climate change will 
increase the environmental and societal consequences as well 
as the costs. The longer we wait to tackle climate change, the 
harder and more expensive the task will be," the scientists 
said. 





 

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