Conservative Groups Raise Alarm on Climate Resolutions
Washington, D.C., May 6, 2003—The Competitive Enterprise Institute and 32 other public policy groups are raising concerns about the approach Congress is taking to climate change policy in a joint letter to House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL).<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />
In an open joint letter released today, representatives from 33 non-profit organizations explain the flaws with alarmist statements about climate change and science contained in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s State Department authorization bill, urging the House committee not take the same path. The Senate committee findings include exaggerations, misleading statements, out-of-context citations, and reliance on discredited sources. The Committee adopted resolutions based on these flawed premises.
In the last Congress, the House International Relations Committee narrowly approved similar language offered by Rep. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). One Republican (Chris Smith of New Jersey) joined 22 Democrats in favor of the amendment in 2001. Menendez is expected to offer the Senate provisions when the committee marks up the State Department authorization bill on Wednesday. The Senate bill is scheduled to come to the Senate floor on Wednesday as well.
“In our view, the resolutions are even more flawed than the findings,” wrote Myron Ebell, Director of Global Warming Policy at CEI. “The first two resolutions recommend that the U.S. adopt Kyoto-style policies to limit energy use by American consumers. The third resolution urges the U.S. to extend the Kyoto Protocol by negotiating a second round of binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions.”
“The Kyoto Protocol is a dead end…and so too are all similar approaches based on forcing cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. Adopting Kyoto-style policies would have enormous economic costs without making significant reductions in greenhouse gas levels. Just at the moment that the Kyoto Protocol is collapsing and other industrialized countries that have ratified the Protocol are discovering that they cannot meet their targets is not the time to jump back on the Kyoto bandwagon.”
CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.
Signers:
Fred L. Smith, President
Myron Ebell, Director, Global Warming Policy
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Paul M. Weyrich, National Chairman
Coalitions for America
Grover Norquist, President
Americans for Tax Reform
Paul Beckner, President
Citizens for a Sound Economy
David Keene, Chairman
American Conservative Union
Malcolm Wallop, Chairman
Frontiers of Freedom
Duane Parde, Executive Director
American Legislative Exchange Council
James L. Martin, President
60 Plus Association
Tom Schatz, President
Citizens Against Government Waste
Amy Ridenour, President
National Center for Public Policy Research
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., President
Center for Security Policy
Karen Kerrigan, Chairman
Small Business Survival Committee
Tom DeWeese, President
American Policy Center
Joseph L. Bast, President
The Heartland Institute
Paul Driessen, Senior Fellow
Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow
Steven Milloy, President
Citizens for the Integrity of Science
Lori Waters, Executive Director
Eagle Forum
Richard Lessner, Executive Director
American Renewal
Terrence Scanlon, President
Capital Research Center
Dennis T. Avery, Director
Center for Global Food Issues, Hudson Institute
Leroy Watson, Legislative Director
The National Grange
Kevin L. Kearns, President
U. S. Business and Industry Council
Bonner Cohen, Senior Fellow
Lexington Institute
Michael Hardiman, Legislative Director
American Land Rights Association
C. Preston Noell, III, President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
Ron Pearson, President
Council for America
Jeffrey B. Gayner, Chairman
Americans for Sovereignty
Chuck Muth, President
Citizen Outreach
Benjamin C. Works, Executive Director
SIRIUS
Allan Parker, Founder and CEO
Texas Justice Foundation
Alan Caruba, Founder
The National Anxiety Center
Mark Q. Rhoads, Acting President
U. S. Internet Council
Patrick Michaels, Professor of Environmental Sciences
University of Virginia
Robert Ferguson, Executive Director
Center for Science and Public Policy