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| Bush And Oil Companies Kyoto Accords & Global Warming Prototype Volkswagen Gets 239 MPG Cows, pigs, and sheep cause more pollution than the transportation sector. (here) Oil Companies Because of the federal imposition of CAFE standards, during 1979-85 US auto makers improved average fuel economy by 7mpg, and oil use fell 15 percent. Persian gulf imports were reduced by 87%. In that time period the US economy grew 15%. (here) In 1986 Reagan rolled back efficiency standards and Persian Gulf imports doubled. (here) In 2002 20% of the military budget went towards defending oil reserves--about 70 billion dollars. (William Greider/Rolling Stone) (here) 33 percent of man-made CO2 in the U.S. comes from motor vehicles. (here) The Bush administration joined with GM and DaimlerChrysler to oppose California's ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) mandate. (here) Kyoto Accords New York Times Magazine ...Bush has pronounced the Kyoto Protocol "fatally flawed" because regulating carbon-dioxide emissions "does not make economic sense for America." Yet British Petroleum had not just met its target--to reduce its emissions of green house gases by 10 percent below 1990 levels--it had exceeded it, it had done so eight years ahead of schedule and with no net economic cost. In fact, because of energy efficiency measures, the emissions reductions amounted to a net gain of $600 million. (here)
Three environmental groups have gone to court in an effort to force the Bush administration to declare that auto emissions contribute to global warming. In a lawsuit filed in Federal District Court in Washington, the groups said the Environmental Protection Agency unlawfully failed to respond to their 1999 petition seeking restrictions on emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. The groups said their suit was intended partly to force the government to curtail auto emissions and partly to clear the way for states to take action on their own. California has a law restricting tailpipe emissions, and other states are considering such measures, but experts on climate policy say the laws cannot take effect unless the E.P.A. establishes that the gases are pollutants. The administration, along with the oil and auto industries, sees any such restrictions as unnecessary and harmful to the economy. President Bush has said he will support nothing beyond voluntary measures to slow the rate of growth of emissions until science shows more clearly that warming caused by humans poses a significant threat. As early as 1994, E.P.A. documents labeled carbon dioxide "a pollution concern." But Republicans in Congress and industry lobbyists defeated any moves toward restrictions, and in 2002 Mr. Bush, in abandoning a campaign pledge to restrict carbon dioxide from power plants, said it "is not a pollutant under the Clean Air Act." (more on Bush's record here) Growing U.S. Need for Oil From the Mideast Is Forecast New York Times The Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration forecasts that in 2025 the majority — 51 percent — of world oil production will come from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. About two-thirds of OPEC production, in turn, emanates from the Persian Gulf. The Energy Information Administration, or E.I.A., says OPEC now produces 38 percent of the world's oil. The information administration projects that Saudi Arabia will need to produce 22 million barrels a day by 2020 to meet increased world demand, far in excess of its current production of about 8 million barrels. The new forecasts highlight a fundamental quandary facing the United States: American dependence on Saudi oil limits the strategic options of the United States even as relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia have been strained since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. (here) |