Stop the Extremists on Global Warming
Open letter to ExxonMobil Shareholders:
Some well-intentioned individuals have joined a radical fringe environmentalists in their support of the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions which would cost the US economy hundreds of billions of dollars – and our sovereignty.
As we rally in Dallas, handful of Congressmen want to resurrect the Kyoto Protocol and amend the energy bill with what they claim are market-based measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These measures would:
• Reduce emissions to 2000 levels by 2010
• Reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2016
In the plan:
• Energy users are provided “allowances” which allow a set level of emissions
• Cap and Trade system— 1) Cap refers to the limit on emissions
2) Trade refers to ability to sell or bank unused emissions
• The concept here is that companies needing more emissions can purchase the right to emit more, but will have the financial incentive to find ways around increasing emissions.
• The EPA will be in charge of distributing allowances and regulating the “market”
What needs to be considered:
• THIS IS NOT A REAL MARKET!!! True markets do not need government to define, control and enforce actions.
• Building a government role into the system allows for political manipulation and expanded federal control of the economy.
• REMEMBER THE BLACKOUTS??? California tried to develop an artificial market for electricity, but since the government maintained extraordinary political control, firms were not allowed to enter the market and the existing firms exhausted their potential.
• NO PROOF that human activity contributes significantly to greenhouse gases!!!
• This plan will have tremendous adverse impacts on U.S. energy producing companies, giving foreign competitors a strategic advantage
• Implementing the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been estimated to cost the US economy between $130 billion to $400 billion annually.
• The McCain-Lieberman plan, which unilaterally restricts US energy consumption, will impose real costs on the economy for questionable benefits at best.
• The poor and those on fixed incomes will be disproportionately harmed because of the regressive nature of the proposal.
• Climate change must be resolved before adopting costly new regulations that will ration energy, harm consumers and increase unemployment.
Don’t allow our corporations to be used as pawns for a radical agenda which is not based on science:
• Man-made emissions of greenhouse gases have been increasing due to the use of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide.
• But this is only one of several greenhouse gases and the most prevalent – water vapor – is by far the most prevalent greenhouse gas, responsible for 95 percent of the greenhouse effect.
• Man-made emissions are responsible for less than 3 percent of the total emissions -US Energy Information Administration, ftp://ftp.eia.doe.gov/pub/oiaf/1605/cdrom/pdf/ggrpt/057301.pdf
• Human impact on global warming is likely negligible at best!
Sincerely,
Peggy Venable
Director, Texas CSE
