October, 2003
The McCain-Lieberman “Climate Stewardship Act (CSA)” is scheduled for a vote in the Senate this Thursday, October 30. “This is the first legislative proposal to deal seriously and comprehensively with the problem of global warming,” said Donald M. Goldberg, Senior Attorney with the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). “We can’t afford to keep stalling on this issue. Every day that we delay makes it more difficult and more costly to address this escalating threat to our fragile ecosystem.”
The McCain-Lieberman bill calls for returning greenhouse gas emissions in major sectors of the U.S. economy to year 2000 levels by 2010. It uses tradable emissions allowances, an approach that has already proven highly cost-effective in preventing acid rain. Several studies show that the cost of the CSA would be around $20 per household per year, far from the economy-wrecking impact predicted by the Bush Administration.
Recent events in the Arctic amply demonstrate the importance of quick and decisive Congressional action to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Last month scientists reported that the 3,000 year-old Hunt Ice Shelf, the largest ice shelf in the Northern Hemisphere, has broken in two and is rapidly disappearing due to global warming. Last week, NASA released a study showing that sea ice in the Arctic has decreased by 10% since 1982, reaching a record low in 2002-03. The study also shows that warming in the Arctic is occurring much more rapidly than predicted, with temperatures increasing as much as two degrees Fahrenheit in the past decade. In the last 50 years, temperatures have gone up more than four degrees in the Arctic. This warming trend has had a devastating impact on Arctic ecosystems and is now being felt in other, more temperate, regions of the world.
“We can’t put our head in the sand and pretend that this problem will go just away,” said Goldberg. “We can either pay a small price now or face far greater costs later. Voters who care about this issue should contact their senators and urge passage of the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act.”