From the Office of Senator Kerry

Wednesday, March 28, 2001

"In the past days the Bush Administration has undermined the leadership of their own EPA Administrator, Christie Todd Whitman, and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, a longtime leader in international efforts to address climate change. The announcement that the Administration intends to break a campaign promise to reduce CO2 emissions, and the impression left internationally by the President's National Security Advisor that the Administration believes the Kyoto Protocol is "dead on arrival" are terrible setbacks for the environment and the international process. There is however more at stake than one announcement or even one set of negotiations -- this is a question of the role America will choose to play in the world. The continued walking-away from the United States' commitment to address climate change is troubling -- but even worse is the statement that the United States will choose not to to recognize proven science, not to engage, not to negotiate, and not to push forward in an ongoing global effort.

The Kyoto Protocol isn't a perfect document, but it isn't a finished one either. The Bush Administration should have set about working to fix it, not killing it. By failing to even engage, President Bush risks unraveling a decade's work by more than 160 countries. The Administration's reasoning for this decision shows no understanding of the international dynamic involved in the global warming talks generally. The problem is real and it is urgent. President Bush has a responsibility to put forward an alternative plan by the time negotiations resume in July that can find global consensus and protect the environment. It's impossible to see how that can happen if he continues to cater to narrow political interests here in the United States. Bipartisan leadership is needed on this issue before it is too late."