There’s No Lack of Heat Surrounding Kyoto

Re “Kyoto Pact Takes Effect Without U.S.,” Feb. 16: The Times has had numerous articles about the Kyoto treaty during the last few years. The insinuation is always that the Bush administration abandoned the treaty signed by the Clinton administration. Now you say, “The United States signed the Kyoto treaty in 1997, and then-Vice President Al Gore was one of its chief negotiators. But the Senate refused to ratify it, arguing that it would harm the American economy.” This is somewhat misleading.

The Senate rejected this accord by a vote of 95 to 0 in 1997 before Gore signed the treaty. This is a treaty that needed U.S. Senate approval for implementation.

President Clinton, or a President Gore or President Bush would never have been able to get Senate approval of this very flawed treaty. The net effect of the Kyoto accord would have resulted in substantial U.S. jobs outsourced to developing countries, which would have created much more global environmental damage to produce the same goods.

President Bush did not “abrogate or abandon” the Kyoto accord. This Kyoto accord was dead on arrival during the Clinton administration.

The Kyoto treaty had no chance of ever being ratified, no matter who won the 2000 or 2004 elections.

Roy A. Fassel

Los Angeles

*

The developing countries are starting to implement the Kyoto protocol on global warming gases. The United States, the richest country and the world’s largest emitter, is not assisting. The Kyoto-required emission reduction is based on calendar year 1990. Instead of reducing emissions each year, as is required by Kyoto, we are continuously increasing emissions over the 1990 baseline. Each year it will become harder to meet this goal, but the sooner we start, the easier it will be.

A strong program of energy efficiency would mean less pollution, less pressure on the Near East, fewer dollars being sent overseas and less global warming. With the U.S. dependent on an energy source plagued by an increasing number of uncertainties and owned by someone else, this would seem a perfect time to maximize our efficiency within our borders. Investments in our personal transportation system and power generation facilities would be a good first step in moving into a more sustainable world.

To compete with the Europe and Japan of the future and to help restore health to our planet, we should be a leader in reducing global climate change gases, not a hindrance.

Phil Westin

Irvine