 |
 |
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
|
Press Coverage ENVIRONMENTALISTS BACK EMISSIONS CAP PROPOSAL A state proposal to classify carbon dioxide as an air pollutant earned praise from a range of environmental organizations at a state hearing yesterday, while provoking objections from just one business group. The change would pave the way to capping smokestack emissions of the gas, which contributes to global warming. At least five groups, ranging from bird advocates to coastal watchdogs to a religious- environmental group, endorsed that approach. "We believe that as one of the wealthiest states in the wealthiest country in the world we have a moral obligation" to combat global warming, said the Rev. Fletcher Harper, an Episcopal priest and executive director of the interfaith environmental group Green Faith. The New Jersey Business and Industry Association, which counts the state's major power producers among its membership of 23,000 companies, was the sole firm objector. "This will add to the already high cost of energy," said Jim Sinclair, the group's first vice president. Carbon dioxide, as a natural component of air, was not considered a pollutant when major air laws were written in the 1970s. However, scientists have determined in the past decade that the millions of tons produced by coal-fired power plants, cars and other sources trap heat near the earth, contributing to global warming. President Bush decided early in his administration not to classify carbon dioxide as a pollutant, back-tracking on a campaign promise. New Jersey and eight other Northeastern states intend to band together to regulate carbon dioxide in the region, capping emissions at a certain level and allowing industrial companies to trade pollution credits among themselves. New Jersey's re-classification would be a pre-requisite to that sort of regulation, which is expected to be proposed next spring. Advocates expect the state to finalize the re-classification sometime in the next few months. The muted objections from the business community may indicate a growing acceptance of the previously controversial stance that humans have helped cause global warming. "Over the past decade, an overwhelming body of scientific evidence has emerged linking anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide to climate change and sea-level rise," the proposed rule reads. On the Jersey Shore, that helped necessitate some $500 million in sand-replacement projects from 1990 to 1999, according to the Department of Environmental Protection. |
|
Current Initiatives:
|
|
||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|
||||||||||
