Clinton Commits to Reducing Emissions of Greenhouse Gases

President Clinton announced in an Earth Day address on April 21st that the United States would commit to “reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases to their 1990 levels by the year 2000.” This policy announcement reverses the Bush Administration’s position at the Earth Summit in Brazil last year. Within the Clinton Administration, this announcement represented an important victory for Vice President Al Gore, who had supported the measure, over Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen and Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary, who argued that the measure could hurt American industry, according to the

New York Times. Also announced was a U.S. commitment to sign an international biodiversity treaty, which was signed by about 150 countries at the Earth Summit, but not the United States.