THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON October 29 1999 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT FROM ROGER BALLENTINI RE OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES WEEKLY Climate Change Legislative We have not resolved any of our remaining climate change issues as described in last week’s report We continue to work hard to secure an additional $100M in the Interior bill for energy efficiency programs and sinks research and for an additional $35M in the Foreign Operations bill for the Global Environment Facility Finally we hope to remove the anti-Kyoto rider from both the Foreign Operations and Commerce Justice State bills The Senate passed Senator Roth’s tax extenders package which includes our proposed wind and biomass tax credit Securing this credit along with achieving the appropriations goals mentioned above would provide us with a strong climate change success story for this year Diplomatic The Fifth Conference ofthe Parties COP-5 to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change completed its first week in Bonn Chancellor Schroeder made the biggest news so far by calling for the Protocol to enter into force by 2002 Our efforts this week focused on compliance rules sinks additional work on technology transfer and capacity building and determining how to deter efforts by Saudi Arabia to include a process for compensating oil producing countries for their expected losses ifthe Kyoto targets are implemented We have made good progress However Saudi Arabia China and their allies have been obstructionist and will resist joining the efforts to address the array of complicated issues between the end ofthis conference and the start ofCOP-6 which will probably now be held between November 14-24 next year As anticipated Secretary Richardson secured a very positive joint statement with India suggesting India’s willingness to pursue additional talks with us about ways to deal with the issue of climate change The Vice President touted the agreement in his town hall meeting in New Hampshire this week Press Science and Industry Reuters 10 28 reported that 25 top British firms have signed up to participate in a greenhouse gas emissions trading system The system is being set up to minimize companies’ costs under the government’s Climate Change Levy which goes into effect next year The Miami Herald 10 22 reported on a new study by NOAA that indicates that “humidity is likely to cause much ofthe pain of global warming ” and that soaring heat indexes over the next 50 to 60 years may “significantly increase the yearly number of heat-related deaths in America - from about 1 200 now to several thousand one expert says ” In Ohio Pennsylvania Michigan Iowa and West Virginia approximately 150 senior religious leaders signed public statements on the issue of global warming voicing strong concern on the issue urging specific action in the electric oil and transportation sectors and on CAFE and supporting the Kyoto Protocol We met this week with the National Council ofChurches of Christ which has been very active in raising awareness ofthe climate change issue within their nationwide constituency and is actively involved in plaiming for Earth Day 2000 Lands Legacy In our Interior and Commerce State Justice negotiations we are pushing for significant additions to your Lands Legacy accounts On the authorizing side the Senate Energy Committee is scheduled to mark up legislation next week that would in part permanently fimd the Land and Water Conservation Fund LWCF A diverse group co-chaired by Lady Bird Johnson d including a large number of Governors Mayors corporate CEO’s Hollywood personalities environmental leaders and others ran a full page add in several major newspapers calling for enactment ofpermanent funding for LWCF and other environmental priorities cc The Vice President John Podesta Martin Baily Maria Echaveste Steve Ricchetti Charles Burson George Frampton Neal Lane Joe Lockhart Gene Sperling Larry Stein Jim Steinberg