President George W. Bush rejected the Kyoto pact, saying it would seriously harm the U.S. economy and compromise efforts to address the nation's critical energy needs. He also opposes mandatory reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. He pledged to continue scientific study both on climate change and energy efficiency. U.S. News quotes energy economist Philip Verleger as saying that industries using the greatest amounts of energy and historically receiving relatively low prices for electricity are those in greatest danger. The chemical industry is the nation's largest industrial user of electricity.
Chemical companies use fossil fuels both to power manufacturing processes and as feedstocks.
Until recently, inexpensive natural gas gave many U.S. manufacturers a competitive advantage over foreign companies using oil-based naphtha. The steep increase in the price of natural gas erased that advantage. Like other chemical companies, Eastman uses fossil fuels, including natural gas, both to power production and as feedstocks for many processes. While we continue to research alternate feedstocks, agricultural biomass, for example, no economically viable substitute for coal is currently available. And coal is available in abundance from nearby Virginia coalfields.