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Senate Proceeding on Jul 16th, 2009 :: 6:53:45 to 7:27:50
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John Kerry

6:53:40 to 6:54:00( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: quorum call: mr. kerry: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. kerry: i ask unanimous consent that the proceedings of the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. and i ask further unanimous consent that i be permitted to proceed as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kerry: thank you. madam president, earlier today

John Kerry

6:53:45 to 7:27:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: John Kerry

John Kerry

6:54:01 to 6:54:23( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: during the democratic policy committee luncheons, we were privileged to hear from the c.e.o.'s of tee of america's largest companies: dupont, seamens and duke energy. and it seems that it was reaching that point here

John Kerry

6:54:24 to 6:54:44( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: in washington where folks are starting to line up to argue ideological and points of view with respect to one of the major issues facing our country. this is not unusual.

John Kerry

6:54:45 to 6:55:09( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: every great debate in history, certainly since i've been here in the senate and well before that, has always been subject to one interest group's or another interest group's intses. and those are often conditioned by phony studies, by one particular industry's funded

John Kerry

6:55:11 to 6:55:32( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: study, almost not peer reviewvmentd an and so it is we're beginning to see this kind of a lineup now as a response to the action taken by the house of representatives which passed climate change legislation. and a response to the schedule that the majority leader has put us on here in the senate with respect to this legislation.

John Kerry

6:55:33 to 6:55:54( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: so i -- i wanted to just take a couple of minutes and come to the this on a periodic basis over the course of the next weeks and months as we begin to think about our own approach in the united states senate to this critical issue. let me say to the chair and to

John Kerry

6:55:55 to 6:56:15( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: my colleagues that i hope we can all keep open minds so that we'll look at this context that it ought to be looked at, which is the national security interests, the security interests of our nation, ie. energy independence, the fact that we send hundreds of billions of dollars

John Kerry

6:56:16 to 6:56:36( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: to parts of the world that doesn't wind up being invested in american jobs, in america's direct future, and in many cases money which winds up in the hands of jihadists of one country or another and -- and works against american competitiveness. that's one reason to think about

John Kerry

6:56:37 to 6:56:58( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: this issue seriously. another is that china, india, other countries are taking this issue very seriously. today we heard from the c.e.o. again of one of america's largest corporations. i think dupont is one of the largest chemical companies in

John Kerry

6:56:59 to 6:57:20( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: the world. and the c.e.o. said very directly to us that he is commitment to this as opposed to our commitment and the fact that out of the top 30 solar, wind and battery companies in the

John Kerry

6:57:21 to 6:57:43( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: world united states of america. we're the country that invented many of these technologies, but because ideology trumped fact and reason in the course of the 1980's, the guts were pulled out from the energy laboratory out in colorado and the united

John Kerry

6:57:44 to 6:58:04( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: states lost its photovoltaics, returnables, renewables to japan, germany and other countries. and ironically, as the cold war ended and we'd invested so nefl that victory in the -- so heavily in that victory in the beginning of the 1990's, we saw the countries that had been locked in by the communist bloc.

John Kerry

6:58:05 to 6:58:26( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: the then romania, other countries that sought to undue the devastation of the command-control policies that had spread ash within 50 miles of a power plant so there was no living plant or, you know, couldn't grow anything and the rivers were polluted and the lakes and so forth and they ought to undo that.

John Kerry

6:58:27 to 6:58:48( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: where did they go for the technology? they went to germany and japan. we lost hundreds of thousands of jobs, economists currently estimate, by the blinders that we put on that precluded us from buying intohe future, from -- from investing in that future. andd so i hope colleagues will look carefly at

John Kerry

6:58:49 to 6:59:09( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: realities that are staring at us right now. china is investing $12 million-plus per hour in a green economy. they're investing s times the amount of money of the united states of america. the pew foundation has found that from 1996 approximately

John Kerry

6:59:10 to 6:59:32( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: until 2007, the greatest job growth in our country came from alternative renewable energy sector, from new technologies. about 9.1% as opposed to the growth of about 3.7% or so we saw in the normal job sector in a state like north dakota, for instance, i think they've

John Kerry

6:59:33 to 6:59:57( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: had about 30% growth alternative renewable energy sector. they rank today 24th in the nation in terms of wind power production. buthe they could be number one because we have the best wind in the world, in the uni any rate.

John Kerry

6:59:58 to 7:00:18( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: and they could produce times the entire electricity needs of the state of north dakota just from wind power alone. that's, you know, a huge amount of jobs could be created and a huge amount of money to be gained, a lowering of costs for their consumers. around the country

John Kerry

7:00:19 to 7:00:39( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: similar patterns where there are very significant increases in the economic base of the alternative sector to the exclusion of a very flat level, if not no growth, with respect to normal sectors of our economy. but what's critical is i just spent a week in china about a month ago or so,

John Kerry

7:00:40 to 7:01:00( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: purposely going over there to meet with chinese leaders about global climate change. because obviously, i'm as commted a any colleague in the senate to creating an agreement with other nations which pulls everybody -- which holds everybody accountable. obviously if the united states

John Kerry

7:01:01 to 7:01:21( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: does this all by itself, it isn't going to work. but china's sitting there saying the same t if we do this and the united states doesn't do it, it isn't going to work. and the problem is that the aren't very good. the fact is that we have been deniers of the existence of the

John Kerry

7:01:22 to 7:01:42( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: problem while other countries have been proceeding to try to deal with it. the fact is we were, until last year, the world's major emitter of global it's very difficult to go to other countries in the world and say you've got to do this and you've got to do this, and they look at

John Kerry

7:01:43 to 7:02:03( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: have you done about it? for countries in africa and in the less developed world and indonesia and parts of south asia and other places, they look at us and they scratch their heads and say, listen, for the last 50 years you guys have been creating this problem. we haven't been able to develop. we're not a developed nation. and so you're sitting around telling us that we've got to

John Kerry

7:02:04 to 7:02:24( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: make up for created? and now we've got to spend a lot of money for it. the fact is they're willing to be part of it. they're willing to be part of a solution. but the united states has got to step up and show leadership and take action here. and here's the bottom line. if the united states doesn't step up and take action and show leadership here, we're not going

John Kerry

7:02:25 to 7:02:46( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: to get an agreement in copenhagen. then everybody's going to sit there and things are going to get worse. some people will say so maybe we'll do iin a year or two or do it down the road. i've got news for you. this is suitly substantiated in the science as well as the technology and economic modeling, if we don't do it now,

John Kerry

7:02:47 to 7:03:09( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: every year that we delay, it gets harder and it gets more expensive and it gets more dangerous. if you really want to look out for your citizens in your states, do it now because it's going to be less expensive to do it now than it is going to be in the future. the real taxpayer protection effort here is to do climate change now.

John Kerry

7:03:10 to 7:03:30( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: that's why, as i said, c.e.o.'s of major corporations country are saying give us certainty in the marketplace and give it to us now so that we know what our investments are going to be as we go forward and we can put together a business plan that is intelligent and thoughtful and based on the realities of where the economy

John Kerry

7:03:31 to 7:03:52( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: is going to huge fluctuation in natural gas prices or in the price of coal or what's going to happen with respect to sequestration, all those kinds of things create enormous uncertainty. now, if you're a coal state, if you're a coal interest -- and we've got plenty of them here you ought to step back and look at what's happening in the marketplace.

John Kerry

7:03:53 to 7:04:14( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: the fact is that coal is under pressure now. we had jim rogers of duke energy tell us today they've canceled a whole bunch of coal they have had them canceling on them by states that are refusing to proceed forward using coal. and the fact is you've got a lot

John Kerry

7:04:15 to 7:04:36( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: of states -- new england, california -- are turning away from coal, and they're turning away from coal because of price issues but also because of the polluting issues. so if you're a coal state and you want a future for coal, the way to protect that future is not to wait until the e.p.a. regulates on its own without coming to the table with help

John Kerry

7:04:37 to 7:04:58( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: for the transition costs. the way to protect it is to recognize that you've got to develop a clean-coal capacity. and the only way to develop a clean-coal capacity is the allowances that come through a cap-and-trade system to be

John Kerry

7:04:59 to 7:05:19( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: able to provide the transitional support system that allows those companies to transition to the future. the fact is that in the bill that p don't know what the level would but in the bill that passed in the house, there $1 billion a year for ten years to coal, for clean-coal efforts.

John Kerry

7:05:20 to 7:05:40( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: so the bes way to protect coal and to protect ultimately, because we have a lot of coal and it would be wonderful if we're able to burn it but burn it cle the best way to do that is to commit now to a system where we are able to provide the support necessary to develop clean and the truth is, you know, we

John Kerry

7:05:41 to 7:06:01( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: know what happens if you don't make this a mandatory structure. in 1992, president bush george herbert walker bush committed us to a voluntary protocol at what was called the earth summit. i went down there together with other senators here -- max baucus i think was there. frank lautenberg.

John Kerry

7:06:02 to 7:06:22( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: then-senator larry pressler. john chafee. tim wirth, al gore. we went as a delegation. the president of the united states cam and there, and we committed to a voluntary framework to global climate change

John Kerry

7:06:23 to 7:06:43( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: and here we are years hasn't worked. during the 1990's, america's emissions went up -- excuse during the last eight years america's greenhouse gases went up four times faster than during the 1990's. we've gone backwards.

John Kerry

7:06:44 to 7:07:07( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: we've absolutely gone backwards here. and while we're going backwards, the science is com and more compelling by the day. the siberian shelf study just released a few months ago shows columns of methane rising on the ocean floor because the permafrost lid of the ocean

John Kerry

7:07:08 to 7:07:29( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: floor is dry land in alaska, where they have voted recently to move village nine miles inland. there are dozens of villages in alaska that are now moving as a consequence of what's happening to the ice shelf and sea levels. and as the permafrost lid melts,

John Kerry

7:07:30 to 7:07:50( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: methane is going to be released in russia and the arctic and other places where it's exposed, and methane is 20 times more damaging than carbon dioxide. on the ocean floor you have rising through the ocean. and when they burst out into open air, if you were to light a

John Kerry

7:07:51 to 7:08:12( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: match, it would ignite. that's how potent it is. that's -- that is an uncontrollably dangerous potential threat to everybody unless w how to do tt or commit to some other methods of controlling this. the fact is that a 25-mile ice br

John Kerry

7:08:13 to 7:08:33( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: thousands years that connected the wilkins ice shelf to ant shattered a couple months ago, just fell apart, melted as a consequence of what's happening. a number of senators have been to greenland and seen the level of ice melt taking place on the greenland ice melt. and the greenland ice sheet,

John Kerry

7:08:34 to 7:08:54( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: unlike the arctic ice sheet and as it melts doesn't change the displacement of the ocean, the greenland ice sheet is on rock. and many scientists are worried that the river of melt that is occurring underneath the ice sheet might in fact create a slide effect for massive amounts of ice fall into the ocean.

John Kerry

7:08:55 to 7:09:15( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: if the arctic -- if the antarctic, west antarctic ice sheet melts and the greenland e sheet melts, that represents a 16- to 23-foot sea level increase. that's beyond comprehension in terms of what the impact would be.

John Kerry

7:09:16 to 7:09:37( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: just a meter, a meter of increase which is currently predicted for this century and which we are on track to actually meet or exceed, just a meter means the disappearance of diego garcia, the island that we use to deploy important supplies to afghanistan, pakistan and to deal with other issues.

John Kerry

7:09:38 to 7:09:58( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: that disappears. countries like bangladesh, other places disappear. the coast of florida. the threat is enormous. the piers in if they rise to the meter, that's a cost. you can run down the list of

John Kerry

7:09:59 to 7:10:20( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: things that begin madam president. so the arctic ice sheet is currently -- it had previously a few years ago been estimated that it would disappear by year 2030 or so. scientists are now telling us that we will have the first ice-free arctic summer by the

John Kerry

7:10:21 to 7:10:42( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: year four years from now, the first arctic ice freeze summer. what does that mean? it means a lot of different things. it can mean the change of ocean currents. it could mean clearly the change of ecosystem. but it means simple things like this. as more ice is melted and the

John Kerry

7:10:43 to 7:11:04( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: ocean is opened up, the ocean is dark. the ocean absorbs sunlight. and as the sunligh directly on, you know, on to the earth, that is absorbed into the ocean rather than reflecting back up as it used to off the ice and snow. the result is even faste which accelerates

John Kerry

7:11:05 to 7:11:27( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: what's happening in the arctic. it accelerat in greenland. so there's a boomerang effect to all of it is ultimately what scientists call the tipping point. and that brings us to the issue of urgency here. why is this urgent? well, it's urgent because scientists for years have been telling us that you've got to hold down the level

John Kerry

7:11:28 to 7:11:48( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: greenhouse gases to originally they said 550 parts per million. then they revised that as the science came in and people realized that things were happening a lot faster thought. so they revised it down to 450 parts per million. now scientists are revising again, and they are revising

John Kerry

7:11:49 to 7:12:09( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: again because the right at which the science is coming back to tell us, hey, folks, this is happening a lot faster than we thought and to a greater degree than we thought, now they're revise it go from 450 parts per million to 350 parts per million. not everybody has accepted that, but that is going on. andhy is that alarming?

John Kerry

7:12:10 to 7:12:30( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: it's a phrarplg because we are at 385 parts per million today. and the rate currently of coal-fired power plants coming on line, the rate of increase of emissions through new buildings, through the lack of standards on automobile, all the other things, we're just pouring

John Kerry

7:12:31 to 7:12:51( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: emissions out there into the atmosphere willy-nilly as there's no tomorrow. well, that could happen the way we're going. the fact is that what's up already -- this is scientific fact. there's nothing that any opponent of global climate change has ever said or done or produced to indicate that this

John Kerry

7:12:52 to 7:13:12( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: is not fact. that the greenhouse gases live in the atmosphere anywhere from 100 to 1,000 years. and as they live up in the atmosphere, they continue to do the warming. so the warming we've done already, madam president, the warming we've done already has warmed the earth about .8

John Kerry

7:13:13 to 7:13:33( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: degrees centigrade. so we could absolutely anticipate a compounding of that warming because the same amount or more is up there. it's going to continue to do the damage. we don't know how to take it ou of the atmosphere. so we're of another .8 degrees. that takes you up to 1.6.

John Kerry

7:13:34 to 7:13:54( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: and scientists are telling us the tipping point is at 2 degrees centigrade. i ask my colleagues to go at the mott telling -- modeling that has been done by countless groups around the world. this is not an american conspiracy somehow. this is not a democrat thing or republican thing. it doesn't have that kind of label on it.

John Kerry

7:13:55 to 7:14:15( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: there are thousan scientists who for 25 years or more have been drawing conclusions based on scientific analysis. and scientists by definition, if you're a good scientist, you're also conservative. because all of the proclamations or findings you make are subject to peer review, if you're a good

John Kerry

7:14:16 to 7:14:36( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: scientist. if you're a legitimate study. the fact is there are thousands of legitimate peer-reviewed studies that document what is happening in terms of the impact of global climat there are no -- zero, not one peer-reviewed study that denies those thousands. not one.

John Kerry

7:14:37 to 7:14:58( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: for all the industry studies you hear, all the scary chicken little, the sky's falling in numbers that are put out, no peer-reviewed study supports an analysis that what the scientists say is happening is not happening. so we' looking at the potential here of catastrophic implications, which is why the

John Kerry

7:14:59 to 7:15:19( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: united states needs to move on this. madam chair, the science is one thing, take the science and put it over here. other countries have committed to this, their prime ministers, their finance ministers, all of these people have come together and made a commitment for those countries. they're moving.

John Kerry

7:15:20 to 7:15:40( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: they accept the science. they also accept the dynamics of the marketplace. they want to be leaders in solar, leaders in wind, leaders in alternative renewable, biofuels. you name unless the united

John Kerry

7:15:41 to 7:16:02( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: this economic opportunity, we will lose the chance to be leaders in one of greatest markets in history. the market that led us to gre welt during the course of the 1990's in the united states was the internet and data -- data management systems. and that market is about a trillion dollar marke about a billion users at the

John Kerry

7:16:03 to 7:16:23( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: time during the 1990's at least when we saw created. the energy market is a $6 trillion market with abou about $4.05

John Kerry

7:16:24 to 7:16:46( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: many in india, where they could run electricity pumps where they have no water and no development there are countless things that could happen as a consequence of this that would have profound implications on poverty and would have a profound implication on jihad world.

John Kerry

7:16:47 to 7:17:08( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: this could change the that we've been locked into. i want those batteries made in detroit and countless other cities across the country. i named detroit because you have a skilled the automobile industry is hurting. we should build the cars for america's high-speed rail system there. we should build the batteries there. not in

John Kerry

7:17:09 to 7:17:30( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: we should develop these ongoing jobs that repeat for future and they can't be exported. what can be exported is the technology itself, whi we have an ability to go other countries which is good for the american marketplace. so, madam president, as -- as these weeks talk about this.

John Kerry

7:17:31 to 7:17:54( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: so i want to just come back to one particular component of this. i want to underscore the national security implications of this. in 2007, 11 former admirals and high-ranking generals issued report from the center for naval analysis saying that climate

John Kerry

7:17:55 to 7:18:15( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: change is a with a pr potential to create sustained natural and humanitarian disasters on a scale far beyond those we see today. in 2008 a national intelligence assessmenassessment echoed those warns from inside the government.

John Kerry

7:18:16 to 7:18:38( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: general zinni characteristically blunt in assessing this threat. he said that without action i quote, "we will pay the price latern military terms and this will involve human lives there will be a human toll. the estimates of the intelligence community and those looking at the national security implications are that we could

John Kerry

7:18:39 to 7:19:00( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: have as many in a few years as we have an internally displaced issue today in we have it in afghanistan, other countries, iraq. we could have environmentally displaced people who are forced november because they can't produce food. because they lose water and the problem of failed states will

John Kerry

7:19:01 to 7:19:21( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: only be compounded as the instability that comes with those moving populations and the challenges of providing for those people just grows. believe me, american ingenuity, americanilitary capacity, american lift, american medical capacity, american food aid, all of these things will be called

John Kerry

7:19:22 to 7:19:42( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: on and unless we act now, they will be called on to a greater degree than is necessary. so cli injects a major new source of chaos, of tension, of human insecurity into an already volatile world. it threatens to bring more famine.

John Kerry

7:19:43 to 7:20:03( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: all -- i invite my colle talk to the developmental people and so many of these -- in so many of these countries aut the problem they're having with growing crops, the change of rainfall, the lack of war, about the desertfication that takes

John Kerry

7:20:04 to 7:20:24( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: place in places like darfur. there w you want to get serious about car far, get serious about climate change. none of the modeling that has been done to date that tries to estimate the costs to the consumer and that's a and, in fact, there's an enormous amount of money being

John Kerry

7:20:25 to 7:20:46( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: put on the table through the aallowances to cushion this impact. so american citizens are not paying more for electricity and not paying more as a consequence of these changes. and i believe there's a minimal cost. but theruth is that cost has not even yet be properly represented because no model to

John Kerry

7:20:47 to 7:21:08( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: this date shows the impact of energy efficiencies in america that will reduce the costs for families. no study properly shows of technology advances that will reduce the cost for communities and families. and no the american consumer of doing nothing.

John Kerry

7:21:09 to 7:21:30( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: if the united states doesn't do this, believe me, that's a tax on americans. and it is a lot bigger than the costs that are going to come affiliated with the transition to a new economy which is sustainable for the long term for our nation. so, madam president, as we go forward, i wt to just say to colleagues, a couple of concerns

John Kerry

7:21:31 to 7:21:51( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: people have expressed about cap-and-trade and other issues. the marketplace abuse this? can we trust the marketplace to function? well, the answer is all of us have learned some tough and bitter lessons as a result of the lack of regulatory oversight of the 1990's and -- in the last -- and the last eight years.

John Kerry

7:21:52 to 7:22:12( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: we will have in our legislation in the senate, which is not in the house, some mechanism by which -- i'm into the details now. we're not going to lay out all of the det going to do. we wl address this concern of market regulation in order to adequately guarantee transparency and accountability as we go forward.

John Kerry

7:22:13 to 7:22:38( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: there are other concerns that people have expressed. as the next days go on, we're going to show day for day exac what the real opportunities are and how we can proceed. i just close by saying, madam president, that here's the choice, really for us

John Kerry

7:22:40 to 7:23:01( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: americans and as human beings. let's say t have no peer-reviewed studies at all, theeople who just want to kind of be on the flat-earth caucus, whatever, and argue this isn't happening. let's say that they're right and we're wrong. and we do the things that we're

John Kerry

7:23:02 to 7:23:23( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: going to do because we think they're the right thing to do. what is the downinside downside is that america would have led the world in terms of technology. anybody who sits there and says, what about china? ought to go to china and see what china is doing. china is determined to be the world's number one producer of ectric vehicles and they're on

John Kerry

7:23:24 to 7:23:46( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: their way to doing it. china has tripled its goals and targets. china is putting in place right now a 20% reduction in energy intensity and they're ahead of the curb in almost every sector except for one in meeting or exceeding that goal. we're not doing that. they're doinghat. china is the leader in wind and solar technology.

John Kerry

7:23:47 to 7:24:08( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: china has a stronger commitment on automobile levels o emissions than we do and it's going into effect before ours. well-respected observers both in business and in who have been to china recently and they come back shaking their heads and say, if we don't get

John Kerry

7:24:09 to 7:24:30( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: our act in gear, china isoing to clean our clock and we're going to be chasing china in three or four years. now, if you're concerned about holding china accountable to a system, we better put something in place, because that's the only way we're going to get a mechanism that will hold everybody in place. here's the bottomin if we don't get that mechasm,

John Kerry

7:24:31 to 7:24:51( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: my friends, the president isn't going to send anything up here and we're not going to pass it at that point we're not going to accept some global system that doesn't address this globally. we've been through that with kyoto. so the fact is that the united states has got to do what we've got to do in order to make copen

John Kerry

7:24:52 to 7:25:13( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: hagan happen in order to lead the globe in this effort. i hope my colleagues will recognize. what els ong and they're right? well, we would have cleaned up the air. we'll have better health quality in america because we'll have better air quality because we reduce air particulates in the air.

John Kerry

7:25:14 to 7:25:35( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: the largest single cost of children's health care in the course of a summer in the united states of america is children committed to the hospital because of air quality, asthma attacks in the course of the summer. and it our country. it will reduce hospital costs, better quality of health. what else is a downside of doing this if we do it correctly and

John Kerry

7:25:36 to 7:25:57( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: we would have created millions of new jobs. we see that happening right now. think of what happens when you set a global target and when united states sets national target and businesses say, hey, there's money to be made there. we hav lines so we can send electricity

John Kerry

7:25:58 to 7:26:18( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: produced in solar oklahoma or

John Kerry

7:26:19 to 7:26:40( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: and you can sell it to the we don't have a transmission system that allows us to do that. we move down the toad have cheaper electricity -- down the road to have cheaper electricity, have a smarter grid and have the ability to reduce costs for americans. what's another downside is we might actually reduce poverty around

John Kerry

7:26:41 to 7:27:01( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: the world because the technology advances. we might reduce the instability of countries, improve our own security and we will reduce energy dependence because we will be able to reduce our -- produce our own energy at home and not depend on sending hundreds of billions of dollarser to countries in the middle east and elsewhere. that's the down side.

John Kerry

7:27:02 to 7:27:23( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: what's the down side if they're wrong? catastrophe. absolute catastrophe because we go beyond the tipping point. i can't standere and tell you everything that's going to happen. but i've read enough and saw -- seen enough of what the scientists say of the potential impacts and i have seen enough of those impacts already coming

John Kerry

7:27:24 to 7:27:46( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: true that just by evidence and common sense, you say to yourself -- don't want to put this to the tess because there's no way -- test because there's no way to come back from it. there is no way to go tipping point and turn the clock backwards. that's the choice for all of and i hope in the course of this debate we will have the kind of debate on the facts on real

John Kerry

7:27:47 to 7:27:50( Edit History Discussion )

John Kerry: studies, peer-reviewed studies, on analysis that make sense so we can make the kind of

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