Senators Snowe, Collins to Ask Poland Spring Water be Registered as “Climate Change Pollutant”

Washington, D.C., April 24, 2002 — Senate staffers cite Maine Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins as supporting legislation calling for companies to report all “greenhouse gas” emissions for purportedly contributing to climate change.  This is the substance of a proposed amendment to the energy legislation currently on the Senate floor.  If enacted, this amendment will result in registering every bottle of Maine’s Poland Spring carbonated water via a “National Greenhouse Database” with the U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and other regulators.

The “Brownback-Corzine amendment” establishes coercive “voluntary” measures for an initial 5-year period, emphasizing mandatory reporting and buying of “credits” under a future climate change regime.  “Brownback-Corzine will require reporting of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, from both direct and indirect sources, that arise from product use as well as the production, distribution and import of CO2.  Can you say ‘So long, Poland Spring water?,’” asked CEI Senior Fellow Chris Horner.  “At least it exempts farmers, who for some reason are apparently not menacing, ‘climate criminals’ like bottled water producers.”

“If Senators Snowe and Collins actually believed the theory of man-made global warming is established, this would be a feeble, even immoral response given that supporters of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming claim that Kyoto is a mere ‘1/30th’ of what is required,” continued Horner.  “It would seem, therefore, that they instead support President Bush’s call to pursue science before inflicting economically damaging policies.  Which begs the question why they support something that provides alarmists a tool for pressure campaigns to harm those employed by Poland Spring, and others.”

Interested parties should read Senate Amendment #3239, “Brownback-Corzine” amending S. 517 (the energy bill), and educate their Senators.

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, visit our website at www.cei.org or email the communications department at [email protected].