Cord Byrd: “it was John Stuart Mill who said that ``On all great subjects, much remains to be said.'' I think we will all be saying…”

“it was John Stuart Mill who said that ``On all great subjects, much remains to be said.'' I think we will all be saying a good bit more than has been said here as the days come and go. We are not yet debating the treaty itself. But my distinguished friend, Mr. Kerry, has just said, in his judgment, there is nothing in this resolution that is inconsistent with the Berlin mandate. Mr. President, that is not my view at all. I think we only have to read the resolution itself--it speaks for itself--and we will find that it is inconsistent with the Berlin Mandate, and I intended to say that. Mr. President, I will try to elaborate on my view with a two-part observation. First, with respect to significant emitters, such as China, it makes no sense for the international community to begin this effort by agreeing to unchecked emissions growth from newly constructed, but inefficient, power-generating and industrial facilities. It is neither cost-effective nor environmentally beneficial to go back and retrofit dirty smokestacks. We all know that China in particular has near-term plans to increase its power-generating capacity exponentially. We must anticipate the prospect of significant new industrial development in China and other places by providing incentives for deployment of new, cleaner technologies. In short, we must bring back from Kyoto some commitments that China and other large emitters will grow in a smart way.”