House Bill 4069
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HM 4069
By Representatives Putnam and Dockery
1 House Memorial
2 A memorial to the President of the United
3 States and the United States Senate, urging
4 that the Kyoto Protocol be amended to ensure
5 equitable treatment of developing countries and
6 developed countries regarding greenhouse gas
7 emissions.
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9 WHEREAS, the United States is a signatory to the 1992
10 United Nations Framework Convention on (Global) Climate Change
11 ("FCCC"), and
12 WHEREAS, a proposed protocol to expand the scope of the
13 FCCC was negotiated in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan ("Kyoto
14 Protocol"), potentially requiring the United States to reduce
15 emissions of greenhouse gases by 7 percent from 1990 levels
16 during the period 2008 to 2012, with potentially larger
17 emission reductions thereafter, and
18 WHEREAS, the Kyoto Protocol would require other major
19 industrial nations to reduce emissions from 1990 levels by 6
20 percent to 8 percent during the period 2008 to 2012, with
21 potentially larger emission reductions thereafter, and
22 WHEREAS, President William J. Clinton pledged on
23 October 22, 1997, that "(t)he United States will not assume
24 binding obligations (in Kyoto) unless key developing nations
25 meaningfully participate in this effort," and
26 WHEREAS, on July 25, 1997, the United States Senate
27 adopted Senate Resolution No. 98 by a vote of 95-0, expressing
28 the sense of the Senate that "the United States should not be
29 a signatory to any protocol to, or other agreement regarding,
30 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of
31 1992 .... which would require the advice and consent of the
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HM 4069
584-121A-98
1 Senate to ratification" and which would "mandate new
2 commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for
3 the (Developed Country) Parties, unless the protocol or other
4 agreement also mandates new specific scheduled commitments to
5 limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for Developing
6 Country Parties within the same compliance period," and
7 WHEREAS, developing nations are exempt from greenhouse
8 gas emission limitation requirements in the FCCC, and in the
9 Kyoto negotiations they refused to accept any new commitments
10 for greenhouse gas emission limitations through the Kyoto
11 Protocol, and
12 WHEREAS, manmade emissions of greenhouse gases such as
13 carbon dioxide are caused primarily by the combustion of oil,
14 coal, and natural gas fuels by industries, automobiles, homes,
15 and other uses of energy, and
16 WHEREAS, the United States relies on carbon-based
17 fossil fuels for more than 90 percent of its total energy
18 supply, and
19 WHEREAS, achieving the emission reductions proposed by
20 the Kyoto Protocol would require a 38 percent reduction in
21 projected United States carbon emissions during the period
22 2008 to 2012, and
23 WHEREAS, developing countries exempt from emission
24 limitations under the Kyoto Protocol are expected to increase
25 their rates of fossil fuel use over the next two decades and
26 to surpass the United States and other industrialized
27 countries in total emissions of greenhouse gases, and
28 WHEREAS, studies prepared by the Federal Government
29 estimate that legally binding requirements for the reduction
30 of United States greenhouse gases below 1990 emission levels
31 would result in a loss of more than 900,000 jobs in the United
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HM 4069
584-121A-98
1 States, sharply increased energy prices, reduced family
2 incomes and wages, and severe losses of output in
3 energy-intensive industries such as aluminum, steel, rubber,
4 chemicals, and utilities, and
5 WHEREAS, the failure to provide for commitments by
6 developing countries in the Kyoto Protocol creates an unfair
7 competitive imbalance between industrial and developing
8 nations, potentially leading to the transfer of jobs and
9 industrial development from the United States to developing
10 countries, and
11 WHEREAS, increased emissions of greenhouse gases by
12 developing countries would offset any environmental benefits
13 associated with emissions reductions achieved by the United
14 States and by other industrial nations, NOW, THEREFORE,
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16 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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18 That the Senate and the House of Representatives of the
19 State of Florida call upon the President of the United States
20 not to sign the Kyoto Protocol, nor to submit it for
21 ratification to the United States Senate, unless and until it
22 is amended or otherwise revised, consistent with United States
23 Senate Resolution No. 98, to include specific scheduled
24 commitments for developing countries to mitigate greenhouse
25 gas emissions within the same compliance periods required for
26 developed countries.
27 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate and the House of
28 Representatives of the State of Florida call upon the United
29 States Senate to reject any proposed protocol or other
30 amendment to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on
31 (Global) Climate Change that is inconsistent with this
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HM 4069
584-121A-98
1 resolution or that does not comply fully with United States
2 Senate Resolution No. 98.
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