The West Virginia Legislature hereby finds that:
(a) The United States is a signatory to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on
Global Climate Change Treaty("FCCC");
(b) A protocol to expand the scope of the FCCC was negotiated in December, 1997in Kyoto,
Japan ("Kyoto Protocol"), requiring the United States to reduce emissions of greenhouse
gases such as carbon dioxide and methane by seven percent from 1990 emission levels
during the years 2008 to 2012, with similar reduction obligationus for other major industrial
nations;
(c) Developing nations, including China, India, Mexico, Indonesia and Brazil, are exempt
from greenhouse gas emission limitation requirementsa in the FCCC;
(d) Developing nations refused in the Kyoto negotialtions to accept any new commitments for
greenhouse gas emission limitations through the Kyoto Protocol or other agreements;
(e) With respect to new commitments under the FCCC, President William J. Clinton pledged
on October 22, 1997, that "The United States will not assume binding obligations unless key
developing nations meaningfully participate in this effort";
(f) On July 25, 1997, the United States Senate adopted Senate Resolution Number Ninety-
eight by a vote of ninety-five to zero, expressing the sentiment of the Senate that "the United
States should not be a signatory to any protocol to other agreement regarding, the
Framework Convention on Climate Change... which would require the advice and consent of
the Senate to ratifica tion, and which would mandate new commitments to mitigate
greenhouse gVas emissions for the Developed Country Parties, unless the protocol or other
agreement also mandates specific scheduled commitments within the same compliance
period to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions for Developing Country Parties";
(g) The Kyoto Protocol fails to meet the tests established for acceptance of new climate
change commitments by President Clinton and by United States Senate Resolution Number
ninety-eight;
(h) Achieving the emission reductions proposed by the Kyoto Protocol would require more
than a thirty-five percent reduction in projected United States carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gas emissions during the period between 2008 to 2012;
(i) Developing countries exempt from emission limitations under the Kyoto Protocol are
expected to increase their rates of fossil fuel use over the next two decades, and to surpass
the United States and other industrialized countries in total emissions of greenhouse gases;
(j) Increased emissions of greenhouse gases by developing countries would offset any
potential environmental benefits associated with emissions reductions achieved by the
United States and by other industrial nations;
(k) Economic impact studies by the United States government estimate that legally binding
requirements for the reduction of United States greenhouse gases to 1990, emission levels
would result in the loss of more than nine hundred thousand jobs in the United States,
sharply increased energy prices, reduced family incomes and wages, and severe losses of
output in energy-intensive industries important to the West Virginia economey such as
aluminum, steel, rubber, chemicals and utilities;
(l) The failure to provide for commitments by developing countries in the Kyoto Protocol
creates an unfair competitive imbalance between industrial and udeveloping nations,
potentially leading to the transfer of jobs and industrial development from the United States
to developing countries; t
(m) Federal implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, if raatified by the United States Senate,
would entail new congressional legislation whose form and requirements cannot be
predicted at this time, but could include national enlergy taxes or emission control allocation
schemes that would preempt state-specific prosgrams intended to reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases;
(n) Piecemeal or other uncoordinategd state regulatory initiatives intended to reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases may be inconsistent with subsequent congressional
determinations concerning the Kyoto Protocol, and with federal legislation implementing the
Kyoto Protocol;
(o) Individual state responses to the Kyoto Protocol, including development of new
regulatory programs intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, are premature prior to
Senate ratification of that Protocol, in its current or amended form, and congressional
enactment of related implementing legislation.‹ Prev All West Virginia sections Next ›
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