EMERSON HOT OVER GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION PACT

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson is hot over the United States' decision to sign onto an international pact to address global warming.

"We caved in on everything. It is horrible," the Cape Girardeau Republican said Thursday.

Emerson was one of the 14 House members who traveled to Kyoto, Japan, to observe the United Nations talks on global warming.

The U.S. and other industrialized nations ended 11 days of haggling at the global warming conference this week by agreeing on a plan to control the Earth's greenhouse gas emissions.

Delegates from 150 nations approved the agreement. But Republican critics in Congress, including Emerson, predicted it would never be ratified by the U.S. Senate.

Emerson voiced her opposition to the agreement during a stopover in Los Angeles on her flight home from Japan.

The agreement, for the first time, will commit nations to rolling back emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and five other atmospheric gases to pre-1990 levels.

The accord calls for the U.S. to reduce greenhouse gases to 7 percent below the 1990 level. Europe and Japan would make cuts of 8 percent and 7 percent, respectively, below 1990 amounts. Under the plan, the reductions would be achieved by 2012.

Emerson said the U.S. would have to reduce emissions by about 30 percent from current levels.

President Clinton views it as a first step in dealing with what many scientists believe is a threat to the Earth's climate because of warming caused by heat-trapping gases.

But Emerson said the international agreement doesn't impose any restrictions on developing nations.

The Clinton administration initially said that any restrictions should extend to Third World nations.

Emerson said China and other developing nations refused to agree to even voluntary restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions.

"China within five years will be the largest emitter of greenhouse gases and they refused to do anything," Emerson said.

The proposed emissions controls also would hurt the lead mining industry, Emerson said. The congresswoman said the Southeast Missouri region is home to 90 percent of all domestic lead mining.

Emerson said the international pact gives the UN the authority to set emissions limits and control how those targets will be met.

Failure to meet emissions restrictions could lead to fines, Emerson said.

Even if Congress kills the international pact, Emerson worries that the Clinton administration would impose new environmental restrictions through the federal regulatory process.

She said Vice President Al Gore indicated as much during the talks in Japan.

Emerson said Gore also told her that Mississippi River flooding is a worse problem than any "bad trade deal."

But Dr. Alan Journet, a Southeast Missouri State University biology professor, welcomed the plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"My only hope is that it is not too little and too late," he said.

Journet said the U.S. can't afford to ignore the problem of global warming.

He said there is scientific evidence that greenhouse gas emissions are causing global warming.

Those who say there isn't a scientific consensus on the issue are listening to a handful of scientific skeptics, Journet said.

While all nations should be involved in limiting greenhouse gas emissions, Journet said the U.S. and other industrialized nations must lead the way.

"We do have to recognize that countries such as the United States have been and remain the major contributors to the problem," Journet said.

"We have been getting a free lunch out of throwing that crap in the air for a long time," he said.

Journet said he doesn't understand why Missouri agricultural groups oppose efforts to address global warming.

Global warming could put some Missouri farmers out of business, he said.

Global warming would cause major shifts in the agriculture zones, Journet said. "So I think the Corn Belt would be up in northern Minnesota or Canada."

Journet said the climate change could drastically reduce soybean production.

The biology professor suggested the nation's economy would adjust to new environmental regulations that would encourage a shift away from burning coal and oil, which have high carbon content.

The U.S. would have to invest in alternative energies such as solar and wind, he said.