Greenpeace Statement on Pending Climate Bill

Greenpeace has highlighted crucial elements of
the draft climate bill necessary to address the catastrophic effects of
global warming pollution. Senator Kerry, in a teleconference Thursday,
organized by the We Can Lead coalition, outlined specific details from
the draft Climate Bill expected to be released Monday that had not
previously been publicly available.

In response Greenpeace Executive Director Phil Radford issued the following statement:

"Although we appreciate the Senate's efforts to reduce global warming
pollution, it's clear that polluter lobbyists have succeeded in
hijacking this climate policy initiative and undermined the ambitious
action necessary.

We cannot support this bill unless the following elements change:

Inadequate Emissions Targets: The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change has shown that to avoid the worst impacts of
global warming, the United States and other developed nations must
achieve emissions cuts of 25-40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and
80-95 percent by 2050. But this legislation only sets the goal of
reducing emissions by some 4 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Rapid
reductions in the short-term are critical to avoiding catastrophic
impacts from global warming. With this weak start, it is clear that
achieving the needed reductions would be impossible

Eviscerating the Clean Air Act: The bill is expected to strip the
authority that the Environmental Protection Agency has to regulate
emissions under the Clean Air Act and the states' authority to set
tougher emissions standards than the federal government.

Money for Dirty technology: The bill is expected to include financial
incentives for, among other things, nuclear power, offshore oil and gas
drilling, and coal fired energy. This includes billions for "clean
coal" technology development, as well as free permits for heavy
emitters like manufacturers, oil refiners, and merchant coal
generators.

We call on the President to push leaders in Congress to get back to
work and produce a climate bill, that presents a clear road map for
significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, transforms our economy
with clean, renewable energy technology, generates new green jobs and
shows real leadership internationally. None of this is accomplished by
giving billions of dollars to the coal and petroleum industries."