George Voinovich: “As I said, Mr. President, carbon caps mean fuel switching. Carbon caps mean the end of manufacturing in my State. They…”

“As I said, Mr. President, carbon caps mean fuel switching. Carbon caps mean the end of manufacturing in my State. They mean enormous burdens on the least of our brethren. And they mean moving jobs and production overseas. What we need to do is move forward in a responsible manner, and move away from harshly ideological positions that advance nothing other than the agenda of environmental groups that have made support for carbon caps a political litmus test. We must move forward in a manner that includes sound science and concrete reductions in carbon without seriously harming our economy. In response to the need for better understanding of the underlying science of climate change, President Bush has moved forward aggressively to focus administration science and climate programs on a comprehensive approach to this issue. Earlier this year, Secretary Veneman announced a new series of initiatives to increase agricultural sequestration of carbon, which is a major problem. The Department of Energy is implementing President Bush's $2 billion Clean Coal Technology Initiative. And the DOE and the Environmental Protection Agency have worked with the State Department on several international carbon control and sequestration projects, including the exportation of clean coal technologies to underdeveloped nations. I appreciate the steps the administration is taking on climate change.”