But the American representatives made it clear that they would not submit the agreement to the Senate for approval until many of the Administration's demands are met. Negotiators at the conference settled on an ambitious two-year timetable for resolving those and other sticking points. But that means approval cannot come until after the 2000 elections, if it occurs at all. But I don't know if this can be done in two years. We have to get the rules in place, or the time will slip away.
Groups representing fossil-fuel producers and users are even more skeptical.
You need more time if you are going to change as radically as this. Without the United States on board, the world will not meet the targets of the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for industrial countries to drastically cut their greenhouse gas emissions between 2008 and 2012. The United States is supposed to cut its emissions by more than a third, to a level 7 percent lower than 1990. But the Americans are insisting on commitments from the developing world, and on a complex scheme for trading emissions permits and credits. Technical people could sit down and work out the details.