Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990 TAG: 9004170361
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Senior administration officials said the United States will call for increased international research on both the science of global warming and the economic implications of the "greenhouse" effect when the two-day conference begins today.
But as delegates arrived, environmentalists chastised President Bush for not calling for specific actions to ease the global warming problem, including commitments to make specific reductions in greenhouse pollutants.
The Sierra Club, which announced a TV advertising campaign to highlight concerns about global warming, called the White House conference an attempt by the administration to shift the focus of the issue away from the need for pollution controls to a debate over economic considerations.
"It's really a smoke screen for the administration's inaction on global warming," said Daniel Becker of the Sierra Club. "We know enough now to begin acting to curb global warming today."
Some conference participants also expressed concern about the heavy U.S. focus on more research.
"In spite of remaining uncertainties on some aspects of the issue, an effective response policy must be established now, without any further delay," said a statement issued on behalf of the 12 nations attending from the European Community.
Laurnes Jan Brinkhorst, director-general for the environment of the European Community's Council of Ministers, and Padraig Flynn, environmental minister of Ireland, said there was an "urgent need for an effective response policy" while additional research is under way.
Senior administration officials have reiterated in recent days that Bush will offer no new policy proposals to curb the man-made pollution that scientists agree is causing the Earth to warm.
Bush, in remarks that will open the conference, was expected instead to focus on the need for additional research to resolve both scientific uncertainties about global warming and establish clearer estimates on economic costs.
The conference, which is being held just days before Sunday's celebration of Earth Day, fulfills a campaign promise Bush made to hold an international conference on global warming early in his presidency.
Bush advisers said they hoped the conference would, for the first time, give equal weight to economic and environmental issues related to global warming and "ensure the economics will be injected . . . into all future international forums" on the subject.
by CNB