Y 4.P96/10:3.hrg. 102-101 S. HRG. 102-101 GLOBAL WARMING AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS ONE HUNDRED SECOND CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MARCH 13, 20, and APRIL 26, 1991 Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS QUENTIN N. BURDICK, DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN, New York FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut North Dakota, Chairman JOHN H. CHAFEE, Rhode Island ALAN K. SIMPSON, Wyoming STEVE SYMMS, Idaho DAVE DURENBERGER, Minnesota JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont ROBERT SMITH, New Hampshire DAVID M. STRAUSS, Staff Director STEVEN J. SHIMBERG, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel CONTENTS Baucus, Hon. Max, U.S. Senator from the State of Montana Chafee, Hon. John H., U.S. Senator from the State of Rhode Island Durenberger, Hon. Dave, U.S. Senator from the State of Minnesota.. Warner, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Albritton, Daniel L., director, Aeronomy Laboratory, Environmental Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration....... Page Pomerance, Rafe, senior associate, World Resources Institute. 8 Prepared statement 51 Zimmerman, Mary Beth, economist, The Alliance To Save Energy. 11 57 ADDITIONAL STATEMENT Baucus, Hon. Max, U.S. Senator from the State of Montana Chafee, Hon. John H., U.S. Senator from the State of Rhode Island Durenberger, Hon. Dave, U.S. Senator from the State of Minnesota.. Jeffords, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont... Lieberman, Hon. Joseph I., U.S. Senator from the State of Connecticut Metzenbaum, Hon. Howard, U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio Mitchell, Hon. George J., U.S. Senator from the State of Maine. WITNESSES Morgenstern, Richard D., Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Policy, Prepared statement Hopkins, Mark, Director, Corporate Relations, The Alliance to Save Energy Prepared statement ADDITIONAL MATERIAL Compilation of newspaper articles from The Washington Post......... FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1991 OPENING STATEMENTS Baucus, Hon. Max, U.S. Senator from the State of Montana . WITNESSES Bierbaum, Rosina, Project Director for Climate Change, Office of Technology Chappell, R. Harold, President, Illumelex Corporation............ Prepared statement Prepared statement DeCicco, John M., Research Associate, The American Council for an Energy Page 110 193 197 195 198 222 216 263 201 244 217 270 Prepared statement Responses to additional questions from Senator Lieberman Kauffman, Harry A., Manager, Energy and Fire Policy Administration, Johnson & Johnson..... Podolny, William, President, International Fuel Cells.. 214 259 261 212 Prepared statement 258 Rowe, John W., President and CEO, New England Electric Systems 200 234 ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS Austin, Richard G., Administrator, General Services Administration....... Sheets, Edward W., Executive Director, Northwest Power Planning Council..... 325 Tennessee Valley Authority 281 GLOBAL WARMING AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF ENERGY STRATEGIES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1991 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:07 a.m. in room 406, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Max Baucus [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding. Present: Senators Baucus and Chafee. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MAX BAUCUS, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MONTANA Senator BAUCUs. Good morning. The subcommittee will come to order. Today the Subcommittee holds its first hearing of the 102d Congress. Senator Chafee, our distinguished ranking member, and I have agreed upon a lengthy legislative agenda for the Subcommittee. We plan to address changes in RCRA, reauthorize the Clean Water Act, and grapple with a number of other major environmental concerns in the months ahead. The overall purpose of the hearing this morning and the hearings that will follow next week and next month is to examine the environmental consequences of present and future energy policy decisions, including decisions about the future of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Our focus this morning is a matter of utmost importance to both the nation and the world-global climate change. Our planet is blessed with a natural greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other gases allow incoming solar radiation to pass through our atmosphere and warm the earth. These gases trap outgoing radiation and retain part of the heat necessary for life on earth, much as a greenhouse provides the optimum environment for growing plants. Unfortunately, man has inadvertently changed the balance of this natural greenhouse. Our atmosphere has become polluted with excess greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide concentrations have increased by 25 percent since 1900. Methane concentrations have risen about 100 percent in the (1) |