Kyoto unnecessary; California businesses protecting environment on their own

Yesterday while Al Gore and world leaders celebrated the signing of the Kyoto Treaty, California Businesses were doing what they always do--work to protect the environment:

It's part of a move by some leading corporations, directed by California state regulatory agencies and echoed by a growing number of other state governments, to bypass the Kyoto debate and take direct action against global warming.

"PG&E recognizes that climate change is an important issue, both for the country and the electric industry, and we're taking a proactive role in grappling with it," said Wendy Pulling, director of environmental policy at PG&E.

To be sure, important questions remain in the Kyoto Protocol debate. Will Europe and Japan, which must make deep cuts in their emissions under the treaty, be able to do so without hurting their economies? Will the U.S. government, which pulled out of the protocol in 2001, continue to oppose international negotiations on climate change? And will the companies make painful cuts in operations that are polluting yet profitable?

But many experts say California's actions could help defuse the tensions in Washington and bring pressure on President Bush and Congress to take action against global warming, with or without Kyoto.

"California, it seems to me, is on the right track or at least trying to get onto it," said James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "That track makes sense given the scientific evidence for climate change. If California succeeds in flattening its greenhouse gas emissions, then it is certainly possible for the United States as a whole."

Treaty, scheaty...leave environmental protection to the free market and it will work...just ask anyone trying to buy a Hybrid vehicle!