WASHINGTON, D.C. — Theories about global warming and the proposed treaties to reduce climate change are based on disputed science and will shackle developed economies, according to a coalition of business, labor, science and public policy specialists at a Congressional briefing sponsored by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).
The international global warming treaty is set for ratification this December in Japan. The treaty would cap and reduce man-made greenhouse emissions.
Participants in the briefing, "Truths, Myths and Impacts of Global Warming," said the treaty is flawed for three reasons:
- The science predicting global warming is uncertain at best, completely wrong at worst.
- The proposed solutions in the treaty will hurt industries, workers and especially the poor in the industrialized world.
- The treaty only caps emissions in the developed world – which has seen a decline in emissions – while doing nothing to regulate countries where emissions are growing, including China, India, South Korea and other developing countries. Thus, the treaty will not effectively reduce greenhouse emissions.
"The treaty won't accomplish any of the intended goals," said H. Sterling Burnett, environmental policy analyst for the National Center for Policy Analysis. "Companies will move overseas – primarily to developing countries – to avoid the regulations, putting the U.S. at an economic disadvantage and doing nothing to protect the environment."
Jonathan Adler, Associate Director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, warned, the treaty would divert scarce resources from real environmental concerns, especially in poorer nations. "Even if one takes the predictions of climate change seriously, the level of reductions on the table will not prevent a future warming. The Kyoto treaty will impose significant pain with infinitesimal gain," Adler said.
Also participating in the briefing were United Mine Workers' Attorney Gene Trisko, who brought resolutions by unions across the country contesting the signing of the global warming treaty; Norman McDonald, certified consulting meteorologist; Dr. Robert C. Balling, Jr., director of the office of climatology, Arizona State University; Fran Smith, president, National Consumer Coalition; Karen Kerrigan, president, Small Business Survival Committee; and Dennis Fitzgibbons, deputy director, minority staff, House Commerce Committee.