[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 970 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 970

    To provide for participation by the United States in a climate 
                         stabilization program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 18, 1993

 Mr. Dellums introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly 
to the Committees on Agriculture, Education and Labor, Foreign Affairs, 
Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources, Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 
       Rules, Science, Space, and Technology, and Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for participation by the United States in a climate 
                         stabilization program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Emergency Climate Stabilization and 
Earth Regeneration Act of 1992''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    (a) Developing Government Awareness of Responsibility For Climate 
Conditions.--In 1969 Congress recognized both the seriousness of 
climate change and the responsibility of the Federal Government to 
develop domestic and foreign policies to contribute to the preservation 
of the environment. The findings of congressional policy and 
responsibility in the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
U.S.C. 4331) and its enforcement led to further identification of the 
problem in the National Climate Program Act of 1978 (15 U.S.C. 2901) 
and its enforcement led to the Global Climate Protection Act of 1987, 
which found ``the global nature of this problem'' and the need for 
``vigorous efforts to achieve international cooperation aimed at 
minimizing and responding to adverse climate change.'' Section 533(a) 
of the Foreign Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. 262) provided the following: 
``It is the policy of the United States that sustainable economic 
growth must be predicated on the sustainable management of natural 
resources. The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United 
States Executive Directors of each multilateral development bank (MDB) 
to promote vigorously within each MDB the expansion of programs in 
areas which address the problems of global climate change.'' Section 
534(b)(1) of such Act provided the following: ``In order to achieve the 
maximum impact from activities relating to energy, the Agency for 
International Development shall focus energy assistance activities on 
the key countries, where assistance would have the greatest impact on 
reducing emissions from greenhouse gases.''.
    (b) Historical Data on Climate Change Problems.--Congress 
recognizes that basic information on climate change was developed in 
1975 by the United States Committee for the Global Atmospheric Program, 
National Research Council, Washington, D.C., which issued a report 
``Understanding Climate Change'' which included data on the rising 
carbon dioxide and curves of glacial cycles for the last 900,000 years.
    (c) Accelerating Planetary Climate Conditions.--(1) The Congress 
finds that existing laws have not produced sufficient climate 
stabilization effort because human technological activity is 
accelerating the rate of carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere. The 
net result of this buildup is to speed up the greenhouse effect, 
leading to shifts of global climate, whether global warming and/or 
increasingly extreme and variable weather conditions. If these shifts 
continue, destruction of lives and property and, according to 
geological evidence, transition past the point of no return can follow. 
It is the consensus of a majority of workers in the field of ecology 
that we are now in a period of ecological destabilization that, given 
the time and effort needed to stabilize climatic conditions, 
constitutes an ecological emergency. Serious debate must be held on the 
earth-atmosphere system producing climate change, on defining the goals 
to bring about climate stabilization, and on the best ways of achieving 
these goals.
    (2) For purposes of paragraph (1)--
            (A) the term ``destruction of lives and property'' refers 
        to the world-wide effects a carbon dioxide-induced climate 
        shift is having upon agriculture and the technology base; and
            (B) the term ``point of no return'' refers to the point 
        past which the shift of climate into destabilized conditions is 
        no longer humanly controllable.
    (d) Program Necessity.--(1) The Congress also finds that, because 
the earth is already into the transition into seriously destabilized 
conditions, and that soil, forest and climatic changes are already 
occurring (such as abnormal weather patterns), a coordinated, 
international, emergency climate-stabilization program is imperative. 
This program should reduce from the present 356 parts per million to 
280 parts per million or less atmospheric carbon dioxide to levels low 
enough to prevent this rapidly accelerating transition. Climate 
stabilization can be accomplished through a program of ecosystem 
regeneration which reestablishes balance between atmospheric carbon 
dioxide and other gases which interact to influence atmospheric 
conditions. A significant means to reestablish this balance is large-
scale soil remineralization, which supports the regeneration of 
planetary vegetation and significant natural carbon sinks, which remove 
atmospheric carbon dioxide. Additional and essential means of climate 
stabilization include reforestation, saving swamps and estuaries, and 
rapid and extensive reduction of fossil fuel consumption through 
conservation and development of alternative energy technology.
    (2) For purposes of paragraph (1)--
            (A) the term ``soil remineralization'' means adding rock 
        dust, with appropriate proportions of minerals and trace 
        minerals, to the soil to support the growth of microorganisms 
        and plant life that transforms atmospheric carbon dioxide to 
        carbon and oxygen; and
            (B) the term ``program of ecosystem regeneration'' means a 
        program of sufficient magnitude and of such timing as to permit 
        climate stabilization before climate conditions preclude 
        action. This includes major reductions in activities that 
        produce carbon dioxide such as fossil fuel consumption; and in 
        activities that impair natural mechanisms for removing carbon 
        dioxide from the atmosphere, such as forestry practices that 
        reduce forest acreage beyond minimal requirements for fuel and 
        building materials. It also involves replacing improper 
        agricultural practices that deplete the soil, such as excessive 
        use of petrochemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, 
        with methods of sustainable agriculture that enhance soil 
        fertility.
    (e) Time Period To Accomplish Objectives.--The Congress also finds 
that the key time period for accomplishing the purposes of this Act is 
10 to 15 years, with implementation to begin as soon as possible.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    (a) Overall Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to establish a 
process whereby the Congress and the President of the United States 
shall cooperate in a national and international program to--
            (1) reduce heat, drought, and subsequent famine and forest 
        fires, tornadoes, and to decrease the freezing extremes, snow 
        buildup, flooding, cloud cover, and storms in the winter;
            (2) promote regeneration of the earth through 
        reforestation, soil and ocean remineralization, conservation, 
        and alternative energy technology development;
            (3) maximize our food and agricultural security through 
        research on soil remineralization and other environmentally 
        sound, sustainable means that increase the health and hardiness 
        of crop plants and their resistance to climatic extremes and 
        pest infestation; and
            (4) assist in the creation and development of a secure, 
        environmentally sustainable way of life that is consistent with 
        long-term climate stabilization.
    (b) Specific Means.--(1) Reduction of carbon dioxide is to be 
accomplished by the following means:
            (A) A program to plant fast-growing mixed species of trees 
        on suitable land, in the United States and/or other regions, 
        especially in climatic and geographical regions that foster 
        rapid tree growth, to consume additional carbon dioxide from 
        the atmosphere.
            (B) A program to revitalize the soils of existing forests 
        and newly forested areas with finely ground mixed gravel dust, 
        plus finely ground limestone on soils that have already become 
        very acidic, to increase the growth of plant life so that it 
        will more quickly consume atmospheric carbon dioxide. The 
        Congress notes that the effectiveness of rock dust in 
        substantially increasing the health and growth of plant life is 
        supported by extensive research, and by the well-documented 
        role of glacially-ground rock dust in restoring soil fertility.
            (C) Conservation of energy, by means of thermal insulation 
        of dwellings, factories and public and private office 
        buildings; solar, wind, geothermal, and other noncarbon dioxide 
        producing energy sources other than nuclear; work on increased 
        energy efficiency; and by other feasible means of conserving 
        energy.
            (D) Remineralization of other major natural carbon sinks, 
        to substantially increase the vitality and fecundity of their 
        life forms as a means of removing carbon dioxide from the 
        atmosphere, including bays, rivers, lakes, marshes, swamps and 
        other wetlands, and the continental shelves.
    (2) Whether acting alone or in a coordinated international effort, 
the United States recognizes that its contribution to this global 
program to reduce the greenhouse gases and stabilize the world's 
climate should be at least proportional to its past and current 
emission of greenhouse gases relative to the other nations of the 
world.

SEC. 4. CLIMATE STABILIZATION PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The President shall, within 270 days from the date 
of the enactment of this Act, promulgate a regulation providing for a 
climatic stabilization program to be coordinated by the Council 
established by section 5(b) and other appropriate Federal agencies, as 
determined by the President. The President shall begin and continue the 
implementation of the program to the extent funds are appropriated for 
such purpose or are available in the Fund established by section 9(a).
    (b) Obtaining Information.--(1) The regulation promulgated under 
subsection (a) shall provide for information development and processing 
centers which shall cooperate with international agencies concerning 
data outside the United States and shall develop and process data about 
world climatic conditions, including the following:
            (A) Land surface air temperature.
            (B) Rural surface air temperature.
            (C) Desertification.
            (D) Sea surface temperature.
            (E) Troposphere temperature.
            (F) Stratospheric air temperature.
            (G) Cloud cover and optical characteristics.
            (H) Precipitation.
            (I) Mapping of soil mineral quality as it bears on forest 
        and crop conditions.
            (J) Trends in land use, including forests, swamp cover, 
        marshlands, and wetlands.
            (K) Forest fires and dying forests.
            (L) Phytoplankton in ocean areas, nutrient requirements and 
        potential increase in phytoplankton from nutrient 
        supplementation such as iron.
            (M) Snow cover, depth and volume of snow.
            (N) Sea ice, arctic and antarctic ice cover.
            (O) Losses due to environmental conditions, including, but 
        not limited to, record heat spells, drought, storms with heavy 
        rain and wind, floods, landslides, tornadoes and hurricanes, 
        record cold conditions, abnormal frost and freezing conditions, 
        blizzards, snowstorms, snow and ice buildup, length of growing 
        seasons by region, forests dying, forest fires, forest and 
        agricultural insect infestation, acid rain, lake damage, 
        earthquakes, and volcanic action.
    (2) The information development and processing centers shall assess 
and publish information on developing climate conditions, and their 
effects upon life on earth, in the following ways:
            (A) Data shall be used to track and analyze the losses of 
        food crops, utilities, buildings, roads, trees, production 
        facilities of all types, human life, and elements of the 
        technological infrastructure, including the magnitude of such 
        losses over the 10 years immediately preceding the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.
            (B) When volcanic eruptions occur, the contribution of 
        volcanic ash to soil remineralization shall be reviewed by an 
        appropriate interagency force.
            (C) The magnitude and rate of future breakdown of 
        technological systems due to climate shift shall be estimated 
        on a periodic basis.
    (c) Overall Plan.--The regulation promulgated under subsection (a) 
shall include a plan for the implementation of the climate 
stabilization program that provides for--
            (1) participation at city, county, and State levels, 
        through councils described in section 5(c), and at national and 
        international levels;
            (2) preliminary Federal, State, and local plans to be 
        developed and implemented as soon as practicable;
            (3) goals for the United States, including those that will 
        determine the--
                    (A) quantity and quality of rock dust and other 
                amendments to be applied to soil for at least 5 years 
                of forest or crop growth;
                    (B) land areas to be remineralized by application 
                of rock dust, and the quantity and quality of rock dust 
                and other amendments to be applied to soils to 
                substantially increase forest growth during the next 15 
                years;
                    (C) priorities for regions and areas to be 
                remineralized with rock dust to gain the greatest 
                benefit in reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide;
            (4) description of international, national, State, and 
        local policies that will support the climate stabilization 
        program;
            (5) international cooperation to maximize the primary 
        activities of soil, forest, and energy work and reduction of 
        atmospheric carbon dioxide, including--
                    (A) preferential support of climatic regions where 
                forests can be developed and atmospheric carbon stored 
                in biomass sinks the fastest;
                    (B) assistance for other countries in meeting their 
                tree planting and soil remineralization objectives;
            (6) planning and coordination of Federal actions through 
        appropriate agencies for the purpose of stabilizing climate 
        conditions by--
                    (A) immediately initiating emergency projects until 
                more permanent programs are established;
                    (B) establishing a national ``CO/2 Budget'', which 
                shall include current rates of carbon dioxide increase 
                or decrease by source, annual rates, and plans for 
                reductions for each of the next 5 years;
                    (C) redeveloping and expanding forests, swamps, 
                marshlands, and wetlands;
                    (D) preparing estimates for additional net growth 
                of existing remineralized forests and of newly planted 
                forest areas;
                    (E) developing, enhancing, and mass-producing 
                remineralization technology, including equipment to 
                manufacture rock dust and equipment to apply it to the 
                soil;
                    (F) participating in international research, 
                investigating environmental implications, and plans to 
                increase ocean phytoplankton, where addition of 
                particular nutrients in specific areas will produce 
                rapid, beneficial increases in phytoplankton and 
                thereby add significantly to reduction of global 
                atmospheric carbon dioxide;
                    (G) implementing changes in industry, 
                transportation, energy technology, and agriculture that 
                support the program;
            (7) the enlistment of cooperation and participation by both 
        the public and private sectors at city, county, State, and 
        Federal levels as provided for in sections 5 and 6 in ways that 
        will maximize--
                    (A) employment efforts in a manner that will 
                provide full employment (with support services such as 
                food, housing, health and childcare, and education) of 
                the Nation's work force in a climate of international 
                cooperation as this effort becomes a central theme of 
                the Nation's productive activity until there is a 
                restoration of earth-atmosphere balance; and
                    (B) cooperative enterprises to provide the rock 
                grinding equipment necessary to produce sufficient rock 
                dust for the purposes described in paragraph (3);
            (8) the curtailment of counterproductive technological 
        practices, including--
                    (A) reduction of fossil fuel use (including current 
                oil wells and coal burning facilities) through 
                conservation and development of alternative energy 
                technology other than nuclear sources;
                    (B) the reduction of fossil fuel development 
                projects, such as off-shore drilling for oil and 
                further development in Alaska;
                    (C) providing appropriate guidelines for the 
                cutting of trees for timber, fuel, and other 
                agricultural, industrial, or residential purposes; and
                    (D) the reduction in the use of toxic and 
                radioactive materials that are harmful to living 
                tissue;
            (9) support for ecologically sound technology and 
        practices, including funding for--
                    (A) agricultural technology that supports 
                remineralization and energy technology that improves 
                the efficiency with which petrochemical fuels are used 
                or develops an alternative, ecologically sound energy 
                technology, the waste products of which rapidly recycle 
                in the ecosystem and whose ecological effects are 
                within the tolerances of the ecosystem for supporting 
                life native to this geological period;
                    (B) development of alternative, benign energy 
                technology such as cost- and energy-efficient solar 
                thermal electric power plants in lieu of coal, oil, or 
                nuclear plants;
                    (C) more fitting waste management policies, such as 
                the composting of urban solid waste and the depositing 
                of this material back into the soil in the region near 
                which it is generated;
                    (D) environmentally and climatically sound waste-
                management policies, including the remineralizing and 
                composting of urban solid wastes and wastes from animal 
                feedlots and the depositing of this material back into 
                the soil in the region near which it is generated;
            (10) employment and community requirements of the program, 
        including--
                    (A) training and retraining people to be employed 
                on soil, forest, and energy projects; and
                    (B) maintaining the stability of local communities 
                so that people working on the program can continue to 
                reside in the locale in which they were residing before 
                beginning such work; and
            (11) the implementation of Articles 2.3 and 2.4 of the 
        Charter of the United Nations (requiring the settlement of 
        international disputes by peaceful means) and Articles 55 and 
        56 of such Charter (promoting higher standards of living, full 
        employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and 
        development).

SEC. 5. ORGANIZATION.

    (a) Congressional Committees.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall take 
steps to establish, through the rulemaking procedures of the Senate and 
the House, a Joint Committee on Climate Stabilization for the purpose 
of carrying out oversight activities with respect to the climate 
stabilization program established pursuant to this Act.
    (b) Establishment of Federal Council.--(1) The Council on Climate 
Stabilization and Earth Regeneration is hereby established as an 
independent Federal agency responsible directly to the President.
    (2) The President shall appoint 24 members to the Council, with the 
advice and consent of the Senate, from various political, labor, 
business, ethnic, environmental, scientific and other backgrounds, 
including one representative each from the National Governors 
Association and the National Council of Mayors, to assure the proper 
implementation of the program carried out under this Act.
    (3) The Council shall review and report directly to the President 
concerning the implementation of the program carried out under this 
Act, especially with respect to ensuring the participation and 
coordination of Federal agencies.
    (4) The Council shall draw upon the research findings and action 
programs of the Committee on Earth Sciences of the Federal Coordinating 
Council on Science and Engineering Technology, the National Academy of 
Sciences, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 
National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautic and Space 
Administration, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection 
Agency, and other organizations engaged in climate stabilization 
efforts.
    (5) Members of the Council shall serve for a term of 4 years, 
except that one-half of the members first appointed to the Council 
shall serve terms of 2 years. Members may be reappointed.
    (6) The Chairman shall be appointed by the President, with the 
advice and consent of the Senate, and such Chairman shall serve a term 
of 4 years, but may be reappointed.
    (c) State and Local Councils.--(1) The President and the Council 
established by subsection (b) shall take steps to encourage the 
establishment of councils at the State and local levels of government 
to assure implementation of the climate stabilization program at those 
levels through the participation of State and local governments, trade 
unions, industry, environmental organizations and other citizen groups 
in an interdisciplinary manner.
    (2) Each State and local council shall prepare measures to prevent 
or minimize agricultural and technological damage and to maintain the 
technological and agricultural infrastructure. They shall also 
estimate, monitor, and report the effects of climate change on 
agricultural and technological systems, including utilities, 
transportation, communication, and industry.

SEC. 6. DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONSIBILITY.

    The President shall provide, in the regulation promulgated under 
section 4(a), for maximum participation in the program established by 
this Act and cooperation at the international, Federal, State, and 
local levels of government, including the following:
            (1) The development and implementation of plans at each 
        level by the councils established under section 5(c) with 
        appropriate cooperation among the councils at each level within 
        a State.
            (2) Requiring Federal agencies, under the direction of the 
        Council established in section 5(b), to review, coordinate, and 
        provide assistance with respect to each State plan resulting 
        from the cooperation of the councils at the various levels in a 
        State.
            (3) Designation of proper procedures for the management of 
        funds at each level.
            (4) Private sector participation through the manufacture 
        and installation of cost- and energy-efficient solar thermal 
        electric power facilities that displace carbon dioxide 
        producing facilities.
            (5) Widespread public participation.
            (6) Extensive cooperation with international organizations.

SEC. 7. CRISIS MANAGEMENT.

    The President shall provide, in the regulation promulgated under 
section 4(a), for a unified crisis management operation through 
coordinated international, Federal, State, and local interdisciplinary 
activity designed to minimize damage from, and to maintain agricultural 
and industrial production under, changing atmospheric conditions that 
cause natural disasters.

SEC. 8. EVALUATION.

    The President shall provide, in the regulation promulgated under 
section 4(a), for extensive and ongoing evaluation of the climate 
stabilization program established under this Act, including--
            (1) evaluation conducted by the Council created by section 
        5(b) and the State and local councils created pursuant to 
        section 5(c) of the decrease in carbon dioxide achieved by 
        reforestation, soil improvement, energy conservation, and 
        alternative energy technology development;
            (2) inclusion in each environmental impact statement made 
        under the National Environmental Policy Act of an estimate of 
        the proposed project on the carbon dioxide levels annually; and
            (3) compliance with Federal laws and international treaties 
        and agreements affecting ecology standards.

SEC. 9. FUNDING.

    (a) Tax Revenues.--
            (1) Imposition of Corporate Tax Surcharge.--
                    (A) In general.--Subchapter A of chapter 1 of the 
                Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to 
                determination of tax liability) is amended by adding at 
                the end thereof the following new part:

                              ``PART IX--CORPORATE TAX SURCHARGE

                                  ``Sec. 60. Corporate tax surcharge.

``SEC. 60. CORPORATE TAX SURCHARGE.

    ``(a) Imposition of Tax.--In addition to the other taxes imposed by 
this chapter, there is hereby imposed on the income of every 
corporation for the taxable year a tax equal to 5 percent of the tax 
imposed by this chapter (determined without regard to this section) for 
such year.
    ``(b) No Credits Against Tax.--The tax imposed by this section 
shall not be treated as a tax imposed by this chapter for purposes of 
determining any credit allowable under subpart A, B, or D of part IV of 
this subchapter or under section 936.
    ``(c) Estimated Tax.--For purposes of applying section 6655 
(relating to estimated tax for corporations) with respect to any 
installment which is required to take into account the tax imposed by 
this section, section 6655(d)(1)(B)(ii) shall not apply.
    ``(d) Administrative Provisions.--For purposes of this title, to 
the extent the tax imposed by this section is attributable (under 
regulations prescribed by the Secretary) to a tax imposed by another 
section of this chapter, such tax shall be deemed to be imposed by such 
other section.
    ``(e) Termination.--No tax shall be imposed by this section for any 
taxable year beginning after December 31, 1996.''
                    (B) Clerical amendment.--The table of parts for 
                subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by 
                adding at the end thereof the following new item:

                              ``Part IX. Corporate tax surcharge.''
                    (C) Effective date.--The amendments made by this 
                paragraph shall apply to taxable years ending after 
                December 31, 1991.
            (2) Climate stabilization trust fund.--
                    (A) In general.--Subchapter A of chapter 98 of such 
                Code (relating to trust fund code) is amended by adding 
                at the end thereof the following new section:

``SEC. 9511. CLIMATE STABILIZATION TRUST FUND.

    ``(a) Creation of Trust Fund.--There is established in the Treasury 
of the United States a trust fund to be known as the `Climate 
Stabilization Trust Fund', consisting of such amounts as may be 
appropriated or credited to such Trust Fund as provided in this section 
or section 9602(b).
    ``(b) Transfers to Trust Fund.--There is hereby appropriated to the 
Climate Stabilization Trust Fund the amount determined by the Secretary 
to be equivalent to the taxes received in the Treasury under section 60 
(relating to corporate tax surcharge).
    ``(c) Expenditures From Trust Fund.--Amounts in the Climate 
Stabilization Trust Fund shall be available, as provided in 
appropriation Acts, to carry out the Emergency Climate Stabilization 
and Earth Regeneration Act of 1991.''
                    (B) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections for 
                such subchapter is amended by adding at the end thereof 
                the following new item:

``Sec. 9511. Climate Stabilization Trust Fund.''

    (b) State and Local Funding.--Eighty percent of the funding for any 
project carried out under this Act shall be from Federal sources. The 
remainder of the funding for any such project shall be divided equally 
between State and local governments.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act.

                                 <all>

HR 970 IH----2
HR 970 IH----3