Conservative Groups Criticize Senate Climate Title

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Washington, D.C., April 4, 2003—The Competitive Enterprise Institute and 17 other public policy groups have sent a joint letter Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) on the harmful climate policies contained in energy legislation his committee will soon be considering.  The current draft bill would create a White House climate czar and an expanded bureaucracy to promote global warming alarmism, require a counterproductive greenhouse gas emissions strategy, and grow a big business lobby for rationing by awarding early action credits.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />

 

In an open joint letter released today, representatives from 18 conservative, free market, consumer, and taxpayer organizations explain that allowing the federal government to institutionalize the assumptions of global warming alarmism with more officials, reports, and committees will only create the institutional framework and political incentives for the kind of energy rationing called for by the Kyoto Protocol.  President Bush has publicly disavowed the global warming treaty and Kyoto-style policies and stressed the damaging economic impact such a path would inflict on the United States with no offsetting benefits.

 

“The climate policies in the current draft energy bill would put the U.S. on a slippery slope to energy rationing if enacted,” said CEI director of global warming policy Myron Ebell.  “It looks more like a campaign document from Senators Kerry or Lieberman than the sensible policies we expect from Senator Domenici and other Senate conservatives.”

 

The signers are: Fred Smith and Myron Ebell, CEI; Paul Weyrich, Coalitions for America; Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform; former Senator Malcolm Wallop, Frontiers of Freedom; David Keene, American Conservative Union; Paul Gessing, National Taxpayers Union; James Backlin, Christian Coalition; Amy Ridenour, National Center for Public Policy Research; Darrell McKigney, Small Business Survival Committee; Richard Lessner, American Renewal; Tom DeWeese, American Policy Center; Chuck Muth, Citizen Outreach; Steve Milloy, Citizens for the Integrity of Science; Ron Pearson, Council for America; Kevin Kearns, U.S. Business and Industry Council; Dennis Avery, Hudson Institute; Jim Boulet, Jr., English First; and Joan Hueter, American Council for Immigration Reform.

 

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.