Rebuffing Bush, 132 Mayors Pledge Emissions Cuts At Local Levels - NYT

[hatrack]

SEATTLE, May 13 - Unsettled by a series of dry winters in this normally wet city, Mayor Greg Nickels has begun a nationwide effort to do something the Bush administration will not: carry out the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. Mr. Nickels, a Democrat, says 131 other likeminded mayors have joined a bipartisan coalition to fight global warming on the local level, in an implicit rejection of the administration's policy.

The mayors, from cities as liberal as Los Angeles and as conservative as Hurst, Tex., represent nearly 29 million citizens in 35 states, according to Mayor Nickels's office. They are pledging to have their cities meet what would have been a binding requirement for the nation had the Bush administration not rejected the Kyoto Protocol: a reduction in heat-trapping gas emissions to levels 7 percent below those of 1990, by 2012. On Thursday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg brought New York City into the coalition, the latest Republican mayor to join.

Mr. Nickels said that to achieve the 7 percent reduction, Seattle was requiring cruise ships that dock in its bustling port to turn off their diesel engines while resupplying and to rely only on electric power provided by the city, a requirement that has forced some ships to retrofit. And by the end of this year the city's power utility, Seattle City Light, will be the only utility in the country with no net emissions of greenhouse gases, the mayor's office said. Salt Lake City has become Utah's largest buyer of wind power in order to meet its reduction target. In New York, the Bloomberg administration is trying to reduce emissions from the municipal fleet by buying hybrid electric-gasoline-powered vehicles.

Nathan Mantua, assistant director of the Center for Science in the Earth System at the University of Washington, which estimates the impact of global warming on the Northwest, said the coalition's efforts were laudable, but probably of limited global impact. "It is clearly a politically significant step in the right direction," Dr. Mantua said. "It may be an environmentally significant step for air quality in the cities that are going to do this, but for the global warming problem it is a baby step."

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/14/national/14kyoto.html?pagewanted=all

[baby_bear]

1. Note CEQ's outrageous comments

<snip>
Michele St. Martin, communications director for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the Kyoto Protocol would have resulted in a loss of five million jobs in the United States and could raise energy prices.

Ms. St. Martin said President Bush "favors an aggressive approach" on climate change, "one that fosters economic growth that will lead to new technology and innovation."
</snip>

:puke:

In case anyone here is not familiar with the White House CEQ, here is some info on its chairman.

James Connaughton—Chair

The CEQ is an advisory agency to the executive office of the president. The CEQ chair is responsible for developing broad policies to bring together the nation’s environmental, social, and economic priorities. The CEQ Chair also advises and assists the president on national and international environmental policy matters and prepares the president’s annual environmental quality report to Congress.

* Connaughton was a partner in the Sidley & Austin law firm’s Environmental Practice Group. He has represented and counseled corporate and trade association clients on environmental management systems, legislation, regulation, treaty and trade law, international standards and complex natural resource litigation at the state, federal, and international levels.
* Represented General Electric and ASARCO in their Superfund fights with EPA. General Electric is potentially responsible for more toxic Superfund sites than any other corporation in the nation. GE is also a lead player in trying to overturn Superfund environmental and public health protections. Another of Connaughton’s clients, ASARCO, has advocated for no change in the 1942 standard of 50 parts per billion for arsenic in drinking water.
* Lobbied on environmental issues, specifically those relating to Superfund on behalf of major corporate interests including the Aluminum Company of America, ASARCO, Atlantic Richfield, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, and General Electric.

The above information is from http://www.earthjustice.org/policy/profiles/display.html?Department=Council%20On%20Environmental%20Quality

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