Greenwire/National Journal's Daily Energy Briefing
July 15, 1999

CLIMATE CHANGE: EARLY ACTION BILL IN HOUSE; EDF ACCUSED

BODY:
     Reps. Rick Lazio (R-NY) and Calvin Dooley (D-CA) yesterday
introduced their "long-awaited" bill to encourage "early action"
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
     The representatives offered their proposal on the eve of a
House Government Reform Committee hearing today on rival
legislation that would block any early action programs.  The
sponsor of the latter bill, Rep. David McIntosh (R-IN), says an
early action bill would effectively implement the Kyoto Protocol
on Climate Change before the controversial treaty has been
ratified by the Senate.
     A similar concern has bogged down the Senate version of the
early action bill, sponsored by Sens. John Chafee (R-RI), Connie
Mack (R-FL) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) (Brody Mullins,
CongressDaily/A.M., July 15).

Critics Say EDF Tainted By Association With EEI

     Meanwhile, a report by the DC-based NonProfit Accountability
Project accuses the Environmental Defense Fund of "self-dealing"
with respect to the House and Senate early action bills.
     Although the bills are opposed by other environmental
groups, the EDF is a leading supporter of them.  At the same
time, the EDF has created a nonprofit affiliate, the
Environmental Resources Trust, which has offered to manage and
validate emissions-reduction projects on behalf of the Edison
Electric Institute and individual electric utilities.  According
to the critics, this means EDF would profit from the policy for
which it is a leading supporter.
     The ERT is led by several EDF staffers and is chaired by C.
Boyden Gray -- "a longtime opponent" of action to prevent global
warming.  All this creates the appearance that the ERT is a
"'smoke and mirrors' effort to earn corporations and politicians
'brownie points' for the semblance of addressing global warming,"
the project says.
     The full text of the report can be found at
http://users.erols.com/npap/crony.html (NonProfit Accountability
Project release, July 14).

Climate Change Rate May Be Slowing -- CSM

     The Christian Science Monitor reports that "the growth rate
of the climate effect of heat-trapping greenhouse gases ... has
declined by about 25% since 1980," a trend that suggests
"humanity may have more time to cope with what many scientists
think is inevitable" global warming.  "No one knows why this has
happened."  But NASA is in the process of launching several
satellites that will produce more complete climate data over the
coming decade (Robert Cowen, July 15).

NonProfit Accountability Project -- PO Box 53238, Washington D.C. 20009 -- 202 333 1855