Who knows if this is true or not?
______________________________________________________________
U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions declined in 2006, report says
By Juliet Eilperin
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions dropped slightly last year even as the economy grew, according to an initial estimate released this week by the Energy Information Administration.
The 1.3 percent drop in carbon-dioxide emissions marks the first time U.S. pollution linked to global warming has declined since 2001 and the first time since 1990 that it has gone down while the economy was thriving. Carbon-dioxide emissions declined in both 2001 and 1991, in large part because of economic slowdowns during those years.
In 2006 the U.S. economy grew 3.3 percent, a fact President Bush touted this week as he hailed the government's "flash estimate" that the country's carbon-dioxide emissions dropped by 78 million metric tons last year.
"We are effectively confronting the important challenge of global climate change through regulations, public-private partnerships, incentives and strong economic investment," Bush said in a statement. "New policies at the federal, state, and local levels — such as my initiative to reduce by 20 percent our projected use of gasoline within 10 years — promise even more progress."
A number of factors helped reduce emissions last year, according to the government, including weather conditions that reduced heating and air-conditioning use, higher gas prices that cut consumer demand at the pump, and a greater reliance on natural gas.
Critics of the administration, including Democratic lawmakers and environmentalists, said the one-year decline did not prove Bush's voluntary approach to cutting greenhouse gases is working. They noted that the emissions have been rising worldwide since 1990.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
seattletimes.nwsource.com |
