Monday January 25, 10:23 pm Eastern Time
White House wants more money for
global warming fight
By Patrick Connole
WASHINGTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - The Clinton
administration said on Monday it wants a $1 billion increase in
the amount budgeted to battle global warming in fiscal year 2000, bolstering the struggle against
what the White House calls a ''grave threat'' to the world's future.
In its 2000 budget for climate change, a copy of which was made available to Reuters, the
administration proposes a $4.05 billion spending and tax incentive package aimed at enticing
corporations and individuals to choose environmentally friendly options when building plants,
burning fuel and buying homes.
More than three-fourths of the money would be spent researching the global warming
phenomenon, developing renewable, efficient energy technologies like wind and biomass, and
promoting cleaner vehicles.
U.S. Vice President Al Gore, the administration point man on the environment, said recent data
showed 1998 to be the warmest year on record, making budget increases necessary for
''ensuring a safer planet for our children and grandchildren.''
In addition to diplomatic efforts to fashion a workable treaty on global climate change, Gore said
the administration wants to improve efforts on the home front.
''That is why President Bill Clinton and I are proposing a record $4 billion for expanded
research and other programs to better understand and protect our climate, and for tax incentives
for consumers and businesses to purchase energy-efficient cars, homes and appliances,'' Gore
said in a statement.
A senior White House official said the package, which calls for a $1 billion spending increase
over the previous fiscal year, was separate from the issue of whether or not the United States
should ratify the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change.
''It's really not related to Kyoto. A great many of these programs were started well before
Kyoto,'' the official said.
The controversial protocol, named for the Japanese city where the agreement was negotiated in
late 1997, calls for industrial nations to cut heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels by
an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels in the period 2008-12.
The U.S. signed the treaty last November, but details of how the agreement would work, and
key questions over the participation of developing nations such as India and China, have not
been worked out.
White House policies on global warming, and the administration's support of the Kyoto
framework, have staunch foes in Congress. Clinton has not submitted the treaty for Catification.
Opponents believe U.S. industry would suffer hundreds of thousands of job losses, and the
economy in general would be harmed by meeting targeted emission cuts.
Still, the White House said new programs, like the proposed $200 million Clean Air Partnership
Fund, would help state and local governments fight carbon emissions and other harmful harmful
pollution. |
