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Presidents' Words on Climate and Energy: 1965 to Now
by David Sassoon - Dec 10th, 2007
in
The Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP), which we wrote about twice last week -- here and here -- has also posted a fascinating compilation of quotations called US Presidents on Climate Change, Energy and Security. From the introduction:
Every President for the past 30 years has gone on record in support of reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil.
U.S. Presidents have been advised since at least 1965 that the greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted as a result of burning fossil fuels will cause significant global warming.
In assertive, often eloquent language, past Presidents called upon the nation to unify around the goals of energy independence and climate protection. Yet most of their objectives have not been achieved and their visions of greater energy security and a stable climate have not been realized.
Did any of them have any intention of following words with action? Why did they fail? Did the American people care enough to hold them accountable? A lot of haunting questions about the hollowness of political promises and the ability of the public to maintain attention come flying off the page. Fair warning for this next presidential election cycle. Here's a very small sampling from the PCAP compilation.
Lyndon Johnson, 1965
This generation has altered the composition of the atmosphere on a global scale through radioactive materials and a steady increase in carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.
Richard Nixon, 1970
The automobile is our worst polluter of the air. Adequate control requires further advances in engine design and fuel composition. We
shall intensify our research, set increasingly strict standards, and strengthen enforcement procedures -- and we shall do it now.
We can no longer afford to consider air and water common property, free to be abused by anyone without regard to the consequences. Instead, we should begin now to treat them as scarce resources, which we are no more free to contaminate than we are free to throw garbage into our neighbor's yard.
Gerald Ford, 1975
I am recommending a plan to make us invulnerable to cutoffs of foreign oil. It will require sacrifices, but it--and this is most important--it will work…A massive program must be initiated to increase energy supply to cut demand, and provide new standby emergency programs to achieve the independence we want by 1985…Increasing energy supplies is not enough. We must take additional steps to cut long-term consumption…I have a very deep belief in America's capabilities.
Jimmy Carter, 1977
Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern. This difficult effort will be the "moral equivalent of war" -- except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy.
I know that some of you may doubt that we face real energy shortages. The 1973 gasoline lines are gone, and our homes are warm again. But our energy problem is worse tonight than it was in 1973 or a few weeks ago in the dead of winter. It is worse because more waste has occurred, and more time has passed by without our planning for the future. And it will get worse every day until we act.
Ronald Reagan, 1982
We will ensure that our people and our economy are never again held hostage by the whim of any country or cartel.
George H.W. Bush, 1989
The single most significant word today in the language of all environmentalists is interdependence…The plain fact is this: pollution can’t be contained by lines drawn on a map. The actions we take have consequences felt the world over. The destruction of the rain forest in Brazil. The ravages of acid rain that threaten not just our country, but our neighbors to the north and not just the East but the lakes and
forests of the West as well. The millions of tons of airborne pollutants carried across the continents and the threat of global warming.
We know now that protecting the environment is a global issue. The nations of the world must make common cause in defense of our environment. And I promise you this: This nation, the United States of America, will take the lead internationally.
Bill Clinton, 1993
On Earth Day I made a commitment to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by the year 2000. And I asked for a blueprint on how to achieve this goal. In concert with all other nations, we simply must halt global warming. It is a threat to our health, to our ecology, and to our economy. I know that the precise magnitude and patterns of climate change cannot be fully predicted. But global warming clearly is a growing, long-term threat with profound consequences. And make no mistake about it, it will take decades to reverse.
Bill Clinton, 1997
I never will forget a couple of years ago I had a fascinating conversation with the President of China, and we were discussing what our future would be and whether we wished to contain China. And I said, "I don't wish to contain China." I said, "The biggest security threat China presents the United States is that you will insist on getting rich the same way we did." And he looked at me, and I could tell he had never thought of that. And I said, "You have to choose a different future, and we have to help. We have to support you. And that does not in any way let us off the hook. But it just means that we have to do this together."
George W. Bush, 2001
I do not believe, however, that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide, which is not a "pollutant" under the Clean Air Act.
The issue of climate change respects no border. Its effects cannot be reined in by an army nor advanced by any ideology. Climate change, with its potential to impact every corner of the world, is an issue that must be addressed by the world.....That is why I am today committing the United States of America to work within the United Nations framework and elsewhere to develop with our friends and allies and nations throughout the world an effective and science-based response to the issue of global warming.
George W. Bush, 2006
Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.
US Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA, April 2, 2007
A reduction in domestic emissions would slow the pace of global emissions increases, no matter what happens elsewhere.
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