Global Warming Bill by Lieberman-Warner Falls Short

Senators’ Bill Is Too Weak to Avert Potentially Catastrophic Effects of Global Warming

WASHINGTON–Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John Warner (R-VA) unveiled legislation today that is intended to address global warming by imposing annual caps on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Friends of the Earth Domestic Programs Director Erich Pica reacted with the following statement:

“The Lieberman-Warner legislation is just one more proposal that won’t get the job done on global warming. The U.S. has generated a large proportion of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and we owe it to the planet to take the lead in fighting global warming. We have to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050, and probably more, but this legislation proposes just a 70 percent decrease–and most of its decrease comes in the distant future, even though major reductions are needed now.

“The legislation also violates the ‘polluter pays’ principle by distributing many emissions permits for free. A better policy would make corporate polluters pay for all of their global warming emissions and reinvest that money into renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements, and impacted communities around the world.

“We welcome senators’ desire to address this issue, but many of them just don’t appear to understand the gravity of the threat. Temperatures are already rising, and if we don’t start dramatically reducing emissions in the near future, the results will be catastrophic.”

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