George Melloan

George Melloan contends in the following viewpoint that the United States, under the leadership of President George W. Bush, was correct to abandon its support for the Kyoto Protocol, a United Nations global climate treaty negotiated in December 1997 by more than 150 countries. Under the terms of the treaty, the United States would be expected to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. In Melloan’s opinion, there is no plausible evidence of a link between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, and U.S. compliance with the treaty would weaken the economy due to the exorbitant costs associated with replacing carbon-intensive fuels. Melloan is a columnist at the Wall Street Journal. As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What happened to a 1996 report drafted...