Will Increased CO2 Emissions be our Gift to the Next Generation?

Congressman
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement against The
American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 on the House floor:

"Science
tells us that we must begin to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions
in the next five to ten years. But according to an analysis by offsets
expert and Stanford law professor Michael Wara, it is possible that we
could see no net reduction of CO2 emissions until the year 2040 because
of offsets and unlimited banking of allowances in the new climate
change bill.

"The
bill allows 2 billion tons of carbon offsets a year, roughly equivalent
to 30% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Supporters of the bill
point out that coal use will continue to increase until at least 2020
because electric utilities will continue to use dirty coal, the prime
source of pollution.

"With
2 billion tons of offsets per year, we are told that electric utilities
will reduce carbon emissions at places other than their generating
plants. So they really don't have to actually decrease their emissions
at all when it counts the most and coal fired CO2 emissions will
increase. No wonder there are 26 active coal plant applications. Will
increased CO2 emissions be our gift to the next generation?
Apparently, the planet is not melting; it is just getting better for
polluters."