Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.R. No. 115 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this resolution is to urge the President of the United States to submit the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Kyoto Protocol) to the U.S. Senate for ratification in an effort to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases.

The Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, Hawaii Renewable Energy Alliance, Life of the Land, and a concerned individual testified in support of this measure.

Your Committee finds that significant scientific evidence exists that the planet's climate is growing warmer, with potentially catastrophic effects on coastal regions and global weather patterns. Furthermore, the United States signed the Kyoto Protocol on November 12, 1998, committing the nation to a target of reducing greenhouse gases by seven percent below 1990 levels during a "commitment period" between 2008-2012. However, the current administration withdrew the United States from the Kyoto Protocol in March 2001, claiming, among other things, that meeting the treaty's nation-by-nation targets would be too costly for the U.S. economy.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 115 and recommends its adoption.