Levin eyes import ban on countries that violate emission standards: 01/30/07
Gordon Trowbridge
Detroit News
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Carl Levin proposed Tuesday that any future treaty on global climate change allow the United States to ban goods from countries that violate standards on carbon emissions.
Levin, D-Mich., pitched the idea during a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on ideas for combatting global climate change. The committee’s chairman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., called the daylong hearing to hear ideas from more than 30 senators on how to tackle a problem of increasing importance to Democrats and Republicans.
Levin also criticized proposals to increase fuel-economy standards for automakers, saying they would do little to help the environment while endangering U.S. jobs.
The treaty restriction Levin suggested Tuesday would allow U.S. officials and those of other nations to bar goods from nations that fail to adhere to commitments to limit the emissions that scientists say are contributing to a global increase in temperatures. The measure is aimed at nations with fast-growing economies, such as China and India, whose increasing carbon emissions will have a larger impact on global climate in future decades. Levin said the measure should apply to any nations that ratify future global-warming agreements, and even left open the possibility that it could apply to countries that don’t sign on — which would essentially mean a trade embargo to force developing economies to rein in their emissions.
“We’ve got to have a global agreement, and it’s got to have teeth,” Levin said. If China, India and other developing economies aren’t forced to limit their emissions, Levin said, their increased energy consumption will swamp any emissions cuts in developed nations, and their manufacturers will benefit by avoiding the costs of cutting emissions.
Levin and other manufacturing-state lawmakers have long been critical of China and other countries for trade practices they say are unfair to U.S. companies and workers.
The idea got a polite but cool reception from Boxer, a leading proponent of steps to fight climate change. Other countries must do their part, Boxer said, but “we also need to take the lead as well.”
Tuesday’s hearing and a simultaneous session of the Senate Energy Committee were the latest signs of Washington’s increased focus on climate change. In last week’s state of the union address, President Bush proposed an increase in corporate average fuel economy standards — known as CAFÉ — as part of a plan to reduce oil imports and combat climate change. That proposal, as well as long-standing support among many Democrats in Congress for tougher standards, has Michigan lawmakers playing defense against an idea they say will hurt U.S. automakers.
“It’s a peanut in the scheme of things,” said Levin, who argued the 4 percent a year increase in CAFÉ standards Bush proposed would have almost no impact on total carbon emissions. “At the same time, it’s highly discriminatory against American vehicles and American workers.”
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