Case for– and costs of– Kyoto are unsustainable

On the eve of Vice President Al Gore’s mission to Kyoto to save the faltering Global Climate Control Treaty (GCCT), the William J. Casey Institute of the Center for Security Policy released evidence that this treaty is unwarranted on the scientific merits. It follows that the associated, very substantial costs to the people of the United States — and to their economy, sovereignty and security — are neither justified nor supportable.

These are among the insights to emerge from a Casey Institute Symposium entitled "The Implications Of The Global Climate Change Treaty For The U.S. Economy, Sovereignty and National Security" held in New York City on 19 November 1997. They are contained in the attached summary of the Symposium’s proceedings released today.

Among the more than sixty participants in this Symposium were past and present senior industrialists and representatives of Wall Street firms, former senior government officials, journalists and specialists from non-governmental organizations. The principal speakers and Lead Discussants included: Bill Casey’s son-in-law, Professor Owen T. Smith; former Senator Malcolm Wallop; former Vice Chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmospheres Dr. S. Fred Singer; Mr. David L. Luke III, longtime Chairman of the Board of Westvco Corp; and Mr. Fred Smith, President of the Washington-based Competitive Enterprise Institute.

The topics addressed during the course of this illuminating Symposium, and reprised in the summary released today, included among others:

• The fact is that there is no real consensus among experts on climatology about the ‘science’ of Global Warming. In fact, as several participants noted, the satellite data — which are the only good global data available — actually show a cooling of the climate in the last 20 years, which completely contradicts the Administration’s theory and computer models.

 

• The economic costs of a Global Climate Change Treaty are likely to be very severe for the American people and their standard of living. According to one referenced analysis by the respected Wharton Economic Forecasting Associates: "Gasoline prices would increase by 45 cents per gallon; residual fuel oil prices for industrial facilities would increase by roughly 140%; natural gas prices for industry would increase by 90%; the United States’ GDP would decline more than 2.5 % per year; a million good, high-paying jobs would be lost; and the U.S. trade deficit would jump sharply."

 

• There will be serious costs in other areas as well. Not least of these will be the impact on American liberties, rights and sovereignty arising from the creation of a new supranational organization charged with imposing new regulations to suppress energy consumption and with monitoring and enforcing such regulations. There are also likely to be significant and deleterious effects from such a regime for the U.S. military’s preparedness and power projection capabilities.