Text: HSB00245 Text: HSB00247 Text: HSB00200 - HSB00299 Text: HSB Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. FINDINGS. The general assembly finds and
1 2 declares all of the following:
1 3 1. The Kyoto protocol to the 1992 united nations framework
1 4 convention on climate change was approved in Kyoto, Japan, in
1 5 December 1997 by the delegates to the united nations' third
1 6 conference of the parties to the framework convention on
1 7 climate change.
1 8 2. The Kyoto protocol requires industrialized nations,
1 9 including the United States, to set greenhouse gas emission
1 10 targets at an average of five percent less than the 1990
1 11 levels and provides that targets should be achieved between
1 12 the years 2008 and 2012.
1 13 3. The Kyoto protocol requires the United States to set a
1 14 greenhouse gas emission target of seven percent less than the
1 15 1990 levels. Achieving these emission targets would require
1 16 more than a thirty-five percent reduction in projected United
1 17 States carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions
1 18 during the period between years 2008 and 2012. Economic
1 19 impact studies by the United States government estimate that
1 20 achieving these emission targets would result in the loss of
1 21 more than 900,000 jobs in the United States, sharply increased
1 22 energy prices, reduced family incomes and wages, and severe
1 23 losses of output in energy-intensive industries.
1 24 4. The Kyoto protocol requires developing nations to set
1 25 voluntary reduction targets. Such nations are expected to
1 26 increase their rates of fossil fuel use over the next two
1 27 decades, and to surpass the United States and other
1 28 industrialized nations in total emissions of greenhouse gases.
1 29 Such increased emissions would offset any potential
1 30 environmental benefits associated with emissions reductions
1 31 achieved by the United States and by other industrialized
1 32 nations.
1 33 5. The failure to provide for commitments by developing
1 34 nations in the Kyoto protocol creates an unfair competitive
1 35 imbalance between industrial and developing nations,
2 1 potentially leading to the transfer of jobs and industrial
2 2 development from the United States to developing nations.
2 3 6. As of March 2, 1999, seventy-seven nations, including
2 4 the United States, had signed the Kyoto protocol, although the
2 5 United States senate has not yet ratified the protocol.
2 6 7. The Kyoto protocol will not enter into force until
2 7 ninety days after the protocol is ratified by at least fifty-
2 8 five nations, including a sufficient number of industrialized
2 9 nations, so as to account for fifty-five percent of the 1990
2 10 emissions levels for all of the industrialized nations.
2 11 8. Federal implementation of the Kyoto protocol, if
2 12 ratified by the United States senate, would entail new
2 13 congressional legislation which could preempt state-specific
2 14 programs intended to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
2 15 9. Individual state responses to the Kyoto protocol,
2 16 including the development of new regulatory programs intended
2 17 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, are premature prior to
2 18 United States Senate ratification of the Kyoto protocol and
2 19 congressional enactment of related implementing legislation.
2 20 Sec. 2. RESTRICTIONS ON STATE RULES RELATED TO GREENHOUSE
2 21 GAS EMISSIONS.
2 22 1. The environmental protection commission shall refrain
2 23 from adopting new rules intended to reduce emissions of
2 24 greenhouse gases from the residential, commercial, industrial,
2 25 electric utility, or transportation sectors in order to comply
2 26 with the Kyoto protocol.
2 27 2. In the absence of an Act of the general assembly
2 28 approving such action, the department of natural resources
2 29 shall not submit to the United States environmental protection
2 30 agency or to any other agency of the federal government any
2 31 legally enforceable commitments related to the reduction of
2 32 greenhouse gases, as such gases are defined by the Kyoto
2 33 protocol.
2 34 3. This section shall not be construed to limit or to
2 35 impede state or private participation in any ongoing voluntary
3 1 initiatives to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
3 2 4. This Act is repealed upon ratification of the Kyoto
3 3 protocol by the United States senate.
3 4 EXPLANATION
3 5 This bill provides numerous legislative findings regarding
3 6 the Kyoto protocol, which was approved by the delegates to the
3 7 united nations' third conference of the parties to the
3 8 framework convention on climate change. The bill provides
3 9 that the Kyoto protocol requires industrialized nations to set
3 10 greenhouse gas emission targets at an average of 5 percent
3 11 less than the 1990 levels to be achieved between the years
3 12 2008 and 2012, requires the United States to set a greenhouse
3 13 gas emission target of 7 percent less than the 1990 levels,
3 14 and requires developing nations to set voluntary reduction
3 15 targets. The bill provides that as of March 2, 1999, 77
3 16 nations, including the United States, had signed the Kyoto
3 17 protocol, although the United States senate has not yet
3 18 ratified the protocol. The bill recognizes that the Kyoto
3 19 protocol will not enter into force until 90 days after the
3 20 protocol is ratified by at least 55 nations, including a
3 21 sufficient number of industrialized nations, so as to account
3 22 for 55 percent of the 1990 emission levels for all of the
3 23 industrialized nations.
3 24 The bill provides that the environmental protection
3 25 commission shall refrain from adopting new rules intended to
3 26 reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in order to comply with
3 27 the Kyoto protocol. The bill provides that, in the absence of
3 28 an Act by the general assembly approving such action, the
3 29 department of natural resources shall not submit to a federal
3 30 governmental agency any legally enforceable commitments
3 31 related to the reduction of greenhouse gases, as such gases
3 32 are defined in the Kyoto protocol. The bill provides that
3 33 state and private participation in any on-going voluntary
3 34 initiatives to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases is not
3 35 prohibited. The bill provides that this bill shall remain in
4 1 effect until ratification of the Kyoto protocol by the United
4 2 States senate.
4 3 LSB 3026HC 78
4 4 tm/jw/5
Text: HSB00245 Text: HSB00247 Text: HSB00200 - HSB00299 Text: HSB Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
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