Clinton Offers Breaks to Fight Global Warming

Warning of floods, drought and rising seas, President Clinton announced plans Saturday to combat global warming through $6.3 billion in spending and tax breaks for home owners, car buyers and businesses.

The series of proposals, disclosed in Clinton’s weekly radio address, include new spending for research on heat-trapping greenhouse gases and such future tax credits as a $3,000 incentive to buy energy-efficient automobiles and $2,000 for installation of solar panels at homes and businesses.

The tax breaks are part of a $24-billion tax cut the White House will unveil Monday as part of its 1999 budget submission. The proposed tax cuts are offset by closed loopholes and restricted corporate subsidies, White House aides said.

“Whether the problem has been acid rain, deadly pesticides, polluted rivers or the ozone hole, the ingenuity of the American people has always proved to carry the day--and we’ll do it once again,” Clinton said. The new proposals avert the worst dangers of climate change “while keeping our economy going strong,” he said.

The proposals are intended to carry out a global warming accord reached late last year in Kyoto, Japan. They are divided between $3.6 billion in tax cuts and $2.7 billion in research spending over five years.

The proposals, which were welcomed by environmentalists, exceeded the $5-billion plan officials initially had announced. Among the recommendations, which would need approval by Congress:

* Tax credits for auto buyers. A $3,000 credit, which in effect reduces the price of the auto by that amount, would be available in 2000 on vehicles that offer gas mileage that is twice the base fuel economy level for autos of similar size.

The credit would be reduced to $2,000 in 2004 and phased out in 2006.

“We’re committed to making it not only wiser but actually cheaper to buy highly efficient cars,” Clinton said.

In addition, the administration proposes a $4,000 tax credit for those who purchase cars that offer three times the base fuel economy in an auto’s size category, starting in 2003.

* Tax breaks for homeowners and businesses. Tax credits would be available equal to 20% of the cost of energy-saving water heaters and air conditioners, along with a tax credit of up to $2,000 for installing solar panels. The solar credit would be available for systems installed in 1999.

Although many details were not yet released, Clinton vowed that such tax breaks would “help turn your home into a model of energy efficiency.”

Clinton also would provide a $2,000 credit for purchasing a home that is 50% more efficient than the model energy standard, although details were sketchy on this proposal.

* New research spending and efforts to mobilize “cutting-edge technology” in various ways.

The areas of research include renewable energy sources, efficient consumer appliances and scientific understanding of the phenomenon of climate change.

In a statement skeptics would challenge, Clinton said leading scientists now unequivocally accept the theory that climate change is caused by carbon dioxide and other emissions that trap the Earth’s heat before it can dissipate.

Unless emissions are reduced, he cautioned, “seas will rise and increasingly severe floods and droughts will occur, disrupting life in low coastal areas, disrupting agricultural production and causing other difficulties . . . . “

Under the Kyoto accord, U.S. negotiators agreed that by 2012, the nation would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 7% below 1990 levels.

How to achieve that goal, however, has remained highly controversial within the government and private industry, which has warned that overly stringent limitations could have dire economic consequences.

White House officials hope that the emphasis on tax incentives will prove a politically palatable means for achieving conservation goals. At a briefing Friday, administration officials predicted that Congress would accept the package.

“We want to provide an incentive for the automobile industry and for the American consumer to produce and to purchase the cars of the future that can help us . . . address the climate change problem that this country and the world faces,” said Gene Sperling, a top economic aide in the White House.

Nevertheless, some congressional Republicans, who say the climate change treaty is potentially devastating to the U.S. economy, have promised a fight.

Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) said Clinton’s proposals should be put on hold until the Senate decides whether to endorse the Kyoto accord. He accused the president of trying “to mold the behavior of U.S. businesses to conform with the global warming ideology.”

The auto industry has been increasing fuel economy and promises to have cars that can achieve fuel economy as high as 70 miles per gallon early in the next century. “We have a goal of developing a mid-size car that gets 80 mpg,” said Energy Secretary Federico Pen~a.

The industry, which has cautioned that the stringent conservation limits would hurt its competitiveness, has also pledged to improve the fuel efficiency of sports utility vehicles.

Certainly, advocates of conservation were pleased. “It’s very positive,” declared David M. Nemtzow, president of the pro-environmental Alliance to Save Energy. “I think the general view is that the president is right on the mark with this proposal.”

He added: “We need to be making homes more efficient, factories, offices, autos and power plants.”

Times staff writer James Gerstenzang contributed to this story.