enough progress to improve air quality. Texas needed a more aggressive plan for cleaner air. Currently, Dallas-Ft. Worth is not in compliance with the federal ozone standard. This new plan implements new sciences which shows that regional approaches may better control air pollution. This will help larger businesses and major industrial sources of air pollution. The widespread use of cleaner-burning gasoline has been suggested to Texans as well. Texas' Clean Air Responsibility Enterprise (CARE) Program provides incentives to those companies who volunteer to help achieve clean air goals. Already 10 companies have committed to participate in the CARE effort and reduce emissions by at least 10,000 tons a year. Texas is working diligently to meet federal ozone standards, but, every community, state, and country should be working to reduce emissions. I am pleased that as part of the new Clean Development Mechanism in the agreement, it includes the U.S. proposal for joint implementation for credit--- a system that will allow U.S. companies to earn credits for helping to reduce This partnership will help the U.S. and countries like India and China. Only through partnerships and by each one of us caring about our environment can we find and implement solutions towards cleaner air. Allow me to congratulate you, along with Ranking Member Brown and Congressman Barton on serving as bi-partisan observers to the Kyoto Conference. I am pleased that we are having hearings on the Kyoto Protocol early in this session in that issues of the environment and the economy are of the utmost importance to the future of not only the health of global business interests, but also the health of the American people. As you know, Houston, Texas is home to many of the leading energy companies in the world. The ability of these companies to compete effectively in a global marketplace is greatly affected by the policies and regulations promulgated by this committee. During the course of these hearings, I will be paying particular attention to how these emissions targets affect U.S. Companies. One of the questions that will serve as the focus of this hearing is, "Where are we?" Might I suggest that as a large developed country, we are in the drivers seat, with the ability to lead the world in setting efficient and effective international environmental policy that makes sense. Thee is no doubt that the rest of the world is watching the United States. It is evident that the success of this environmental protection is largely dependent on private action. Consequently, we must act to implement policy that will enable the private sector to comply with sensible environmental standards. To this end, I am encouraged by the idea of international emissions trading found in Article 6 of the Kyoto agreement. Under an emissions trading plan, countries or even companies can purchase less expensive emissions permits from countries that have more permits than they need, possibly due to these counties having met their emissions target. This international emissions trading tool can seemingly provide a good strong incentive to reduce emissions, while at the same time allowing for flexibility from implementing Page 2 Let me also state that I am encouraged that the United States led the effort that resulted in the Kyoto conference rejecting proposals which required all parties with emissions targets to impose specific mandatory measures such as energy taxes. During the conference the U.S. was quite successful in developing the framework for these emissions targets outlined in Article 3 of the Kyoto agreement. These targets are to be reached over a five year budget period, rather than a single year. According to the state department, allowing emissions to be averaged across a budget period increases flexibility by helping to smooth out short term fluctuations in economic performance. Additionally, the first budget period will be the U.S. proposal of 2008 - 2012. The parties to the convention rejected proposals that were neither realistic nor achievable. According to the state department, having a full decade before that start of the binding period will allow more time for U.S. companies to make the transition to greater energy efficiency and/or lower carbon technologies. While implementation of this agreement has the commendable purpose of securing a cleaner and more livable environment, several important issues still remain. The economic impact of the agreement to U.S. industries, the outlining of a detailed emissions trading process, as well as the role of developing nations and their "meaningful participation" in this agreement are all issues that must be addressed. STATEMENT BY RALPH M. HALL BEFORE SCIENCE COMMITTEE FEBRUARY 4, 1998 MR. CHAIRMAN: Our hearing today is but the first of many this Committee and my other Committee on Commerce will have since the Kyoto agreement in December on an international effort to deal with Global Climate Changes. And I want to welcome Ms. McGinty the Chair of our council on Environmental Quality who has become a good spokesperson for the Administration on this issue. My record on the issue of global warming and what we should do about it is no secret it has been a subject of much debate - and discussion during most of my years of service in the Congress. The science on whether it is a problem and how much a problem; and more recently, I have been pretty vocal about what a Global Climate Treaty might require of American businesses to the disadvantage of jobs and ability to compete in the world marketplace. I even signed letters to the Kyoto negotiators in opposition to any agreement that did not include developing nations such as China and Brazil. All that is no secret and are |