Dear Editor,
Governor Mitt Romney’s decision to bail out of the multi-state agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (December 28, “Governor Romney Bails Out”) prevented his state’s tax monies from being flushed into a global climate abyss.
Fully implemented, the Kyoto Protocol, which envisioned all of the world’s developed countries reducing their greenhouse gases to 7% below 1990 emission rates, would have reduced the global temperature by a mere .5 degrees centigrade by 2050, according to most scientists.
What possible impact could nine states have on the world’s climate? The answer is absolutely none. What possible effect could they have even on their own climate? None, since air moves globally.
Reducing emissions is difficult and expensive. Only France, which is 80% dependent on nuclear energy, has any chance of achieving its Kyoto goals. Three-quarters of the signatory nations are on course to increase their greenhouse gas emissions.
The only sure impact of this agreement would be exactly what Governor Romney said it would be–a shot in the foot of each state’s economy.
Jay Lehr ([email protected]) is Science Director for The Heartland Institute, a national nonprofit organization based in Chicago.
Jay Lehr was an internationally renowned speaker, scientist, Senior Policy Advisor with the International Climate Science Coalition and Senior Science Analyst at CFACT.
