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The 2000 Elections: What's At Stake
White House Committed to "Strong Progress"
View From Captial Hill: Kyoto Is Not The Answer
The Presidential Candidates Sound Off
Americans Support Strong Action On Warming
Debating The Effects On Agriculture
Does Climate Change Cause More Extreme Weather
Advertising Information And Contributors
"Learning to Shop for Utilities" with Martha Hamilton. Online Discussion
NEI Viewpoint Discussion on Global Climate Change with Maureen T. Koetz
Gary Bauer
The scientific evidence supporting the theory of global warming is ambiguous and inconclusive. Even if the worst-case scenario were accurate, the effects of a warmer climate may not be entirely negative. In the absence of conclusive scientific data, it would be foolish to impose on the industrialized nations economy-chilling and job-killing restrictions, while exempting Red China. Congress should demand that the Kyoto agreement be submitted to the Senate for ratification, as the Constitution requires, before any of its provisions are implemented, and resist efforts by the Clinton administration to enact the treaty unilaterally by executive orders or regulatory edicts.
Bill Bradley
We need to confront the threat of ever-increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, and we must do so without further delay. I support the Kyoto Protocol as an important first step. The United States is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases and we must show leadership in significantly reducing our emission of these gases. We should give corporations incentives for taking voluntary actions, in advance of treaty ratification, to help reverse our increasing levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Government actions should support achievement of climate stabilization as quickly as possible.
Patrick Buchanan
The Clinton-Gore cave-in at Kyoto amounts to virtual economic treason against the United States. By a vote of 95-0, the Senate rejected the treaty's exemption of mega-polluters like China, India and Mexico from the draconian cuts in energy consumption imposed on the United States. Still, Clinton signed this protocol that, if implemented, will send America's standard of living spiraling downward. Despite Al Gore's apocalyptic forecasts, Earth's temperature has risen only half a degree Celsius since 1870, and of the 200 billion tons of carbon dioxide released annually, 95 percent are the work of nature.
George W. Bush
Efforts to improve our environment must be based on sound science, not social fads. Scientific data show average temperatures have increased slightly during this century, but both the causes and the impact of this slight warming are uncertain. Changes in the earth's atmosphere are serious and require much more extensive scientific analysis. I oppose the Kyoto Protocol; it is ineffective, inadequate and unfair to America because it exempts 80 percent of the world, including major population centers such as China and India, from compliance. America must work with businesses and other nations to develop new technologies to reduce harmful emissions.
Steve Forbes
Vice President Gore's obsession with global warming is wrong-headed. Worse, his Kyoto treaty could drive gas prices to $2 a gallon or more, cost millions of jobs, and economically devastate farmers, factory workers, miners and small businesses. The truth is that the catastrophic claims about global warming are deeply flawed. The earth's temperatures were fluctuating long before the Industrial Revolution. There is no real evidence that the world is heading into an age of super-heated temperatures. As I discuss in my book, A New Birth of Freedom, the U.S. can achieve real environmental stewardship without sacrificing our economic freedom and prosperity.
Al Gore
There is overwhelming scientific consensus: the threat of global warming is real. The Kyoto Protocol is an historic step toward meeting this global challenge. It sets strong, realistic targets for reducing emissions and establishes flexible, market-based mechanisms to minimize costs. These common-sense steps not only save energy and protect us from smog and other dangerous pollutants, but they save money as well--proving that we can both protect our environment and continue growing our economy. However, the Protocol remains a work in progress. We must negotiate clear rules for its market-based mechanisms and achieve meaningful participation by key developing countries.
Orrin Hatch
I appreciate the global challenges we face in protecting our environment. But, I am struck by the irony that the Kyoto agreements put more restrictions on nations which are already voluntarily addressing the concern of greenhouse gases than on others where little is required and little has been done. Moreover, placing restrictions only on developed nations will merely serve to redistribute, rather than reduce, emissions as industries find it more cost effective to relocate their plants abroad. This could cost American workers the loss of more than a million industrial jobs, and result in higher prices for consumers.
Alan Keyes
All climate change forecasts depend on technology forecasts. To know how human activity will change the climate over the next century, one must also know what energy technologies will be prevalent in 2050 or 2100. Many of the same "experts" who only 20 years ago predicted the world would soon run out of oil now claim to foresee how energy will be produced and consumed 50 or 100 years hence. This is hubris of a high order, as is the Kyoto agenda itself, which aims to establish centralized energy planning on a global scale. The Protocol is a latter-day Tower of Babel.
John McCain
Whether human activity is altering the global climate is a scientific, not a political question. I have serious concerns that the Kyoto treaty does not assure the cooperation of countries such as China and India. A problem serious enough to require U.S. action requires the responsible participation of other countries. Giving large nations a pass is bad environmental and economic strategy. As we work to understand fully the environmental and economic ramifications of climate change, necessary remedies must be based on sound scientific consensus, produce cost-effective benefits, maximize market-based approaches, and be truly global.
U.S. Senator Bob Smith also was asked for a statement but did not provide one.
Republican - conservative activist
Democrat - former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
Republican - former White House official, political commentator
Republican - Governor of Texas
Republican - Publisher
Democrat - Vice President of the United States
Republican - U.S. Senator from Utah
Republican - former State Department official
Republican - U.S. Senator from Arizona