Bush Asked to Devise Greenhouse Gas Plan

Ten prominent figures, including former President Carter and ex-Russian President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, have written an open letter to President Bush urging him to develop a plan to cut greenhouse gas production, Time magazine said.

The letter, in issues to appear today, was published less than a week after the Bush administration signaled it had effectively abandoned the 1997 Kyoto, Japan, treaty aimed at cutting greenhouse gases that many scientists believe are behind global warming.

Bush said he opposes the pact, signed by former President Clinton in 1998 but never introduced in the Senate, because he thinks the economic costs outweigh the benefits.