I
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, En-
ergy 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 Representa-
tives 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 RE-
SPONSIBILITY FOR CLIMATE CONDITIONS.—In 1969 Con-
gress recognized both the seriousness of climate change
and the responsibility of the Federal Government to de-
velop domestic and foreign policies to contribute to the
preservation of the environment. The findings of congres-
sional policy and responsibility in the National Environ-
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4331) and its en-
forcement 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 Pro-
tection 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 re-
sponding 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 sus-
tainable economic growth must be predicated on the sus-
tainable 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 Inter-
national Development shall focus energy assistance activi-
ties on the key countries, where assistance would have the
greatest impact on reducing emissions from greenhouse
gases.’’.
(b) HISTORICAL DATA ON CLIMATE CHANGE PROB-
LEMS.—Congress recognizes that basic information on cli-
mate change was developed in 1975 by the United States
Committee for the Global Atmospheric Program, National
Research Council, Washington, D.C., which issued a re-
port ‘‘Understanding Climate Change’’ which included
data on the rising carbon dioxide and curves of glacial cy-
cles for the last 900,000 years.
(c) ACCELERATING PLANETARY CLIMATE CONDI-
TIONS.—(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, lead-
ing to shifts of global climate, whether global warming
and/or increasingly extreme and variable weather condi-
tions. 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 sta-
bilization, and on the best ways of achieving these goals.
(2) For purposes of paragraph (1)—
(A) the term ‘‘destruction of lives and prop-
erty’’ refers to the world-wide effects a carbon diox-
ide-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 abnor-
mal weather patterns), a coordinated, international, emer-
gency 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 accel-
erating transition. Climate stabilization can be accom-
plished through a program of ecosystem regeneration
which reestablishes balance between atmospheric carbon
dioxide and other gases which interact to influence atmos-
pheric 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 sta-
bilization include reforestation, saving swamps and estu-
aries, and rapid and extensive reduction of fossil fuel con-
sumption through conservation and development of alter-
native 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 regenera-
tion’’ means a program of sufficient magnitude and
of such timing as to permit climate stabilization be-
fore climate conditions preclude action. This includes
major reductions in activities that produce carbon
dioxide such as fossil fuel consumption; and in ac-
tivities that impair natural mechanisms for removing
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, such as for-
estry practices that reduce forest acreage beyond
minimal requirements for fuel and building mate-
rials. 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 ac-
complishing 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 Presi-
dent of the United States shall cooperate in a national
and international program to—
(1) reduce heat, drought, and subsequent fam-
ine 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, con-
servation, and alternative energy technology develop-
ment;
(3) maximize our food and agricultural security
through research on soil remineralization and other
environmentally sound, sustainable means that in-
crease the health and hardiness of crop plants and
their resistance to climatic extremes and pest infes-
tation; 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 diox-
ide is to be accomplished by the following means:
(A) A program to plant fast-growing mixed spe-
cies of trees on suitable land, in the United States
and/or other regions, especially in climatic and geo-
graphical regions that foster rapid tree growth, to
consume additional carbon dioxide from the atmos-
phere.
(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 in-
crease 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 ther-
mal 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 effi-
ciency; and by other feasible means of conserving en-
ergy.
(D) Remineralization of other major natural
carbon sinks, to substantially increase the vitality
and fecundity of their life forms as a means of re-
moving carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, includ-
ing bays, rivers, lakes, marshes, swamps and other
wetlands, and the continental shelves.
(2) Whether acting alone or in a coordinated inter-
national effort, the United States recognizes that its con-
tribution 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 green-
house 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, promul-
gate a regulation providing for a climatic stabilization pro-
gram to be coordinated by the Council established by sec-
tion 5(b) and other appropriate Federal agencies, as deter-
mined 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 infor-
mation development and processing centers which shall co-
operate with international agencies concerning data out-
side 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 re-
quirements 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, in-
cluding, 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 cen-
ters shall assess and publish information on developing cli-
mate 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 ele-
ments of the technological infrastructure, including
the magnitude of such losses over the 10 years im-
mediately preceding the date of the enactment of
this Act.
(B) When volcanic eruptions occur, the con-
tribution of volcanic ash to soil remineralization
shall be reviewed by an appropriate interagency
force.
(C) The magnitude and rate of future break-
down 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 implemen-
tation of the climate stabilization program that provides
for—
(1) participation at city, county, and State lev-
els, 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 prac-
ticable;
(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 ap-
plication of rock dust, and the quantity and
quality of rock dust and other amendments to
be applied to soils to substantially increase for-
est growth during the next 15 years;
(C) priorities for regions and areas to be
remineralized with rock dust to gain the great-
est benefit in reduction of atmospheric carbon
dioxide;
(4) description of international, national, State,
and local policies that will support the climate sta-
bilization program;
(5) international cooperation to maximize the
primary activities of soil, forest, and energy work
and reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide, includ-
ing—
(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 meet-
ing their tree planting and soil remineralization
objectives;
(6) planning and coordination of Federal ac-
tions through appropriate agencies for the purpose
of stabilizing climate conditions by—
(A) 
immediately 
initiating 
emergency
projects until more permanent programs are es-
tablished;
(B) establishing a national ‘‘CO/2 Budg-
et’’, 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-pro-
ducing remineralization technology, including
equipment to manufacture rock dust and equip-
ment 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 agri-
culture that support the program;
(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 im-
proves the efficiency with which petrochemical
fuels are used or develops an alternative, eco-
logically sound energy technology, the waste
products of which rapidly recycle in the eco-
system and whose ecological effects are within
the tolerances of the ecosystem for supporting
life native to this geological period;
(B) development of alternative, benign en-
ergy technology such as cost- and energy-effi-
cient solar thermal electric power plants in lieu
of coal, oil, or nuclear plants;
moting 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 tem-
pore 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 pur-
pose 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 Regenera-
tion is hereby established as an independent Federal agen-
cy 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 represent-
ative each from the National Governors Association and
the National Council of Mayors, to assure the proper im-
plementation of the program carried out under this Act.
(3) The Council shall review and report directly to
the President concerning the implementation of the pro-
gram 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 find-
ings 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 Adminis-
tration, 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 ap-
pointed to the Council shall serve terms of 2 years. Mem-
bers may be reappointed.
(6) The Chairman shall be appointed by the Presi-
dent, 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 Presi-
dent 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 imple-
mentation of the climate stabilization program at those
levels through the participation of State and local govern-
ments, trade unions, industry, environmental organiza-
tions and other citizen groups in an interdisciplinary man-
ner.
(2) Each State and local council shall prepare meas-
ures to prevent or minimize agricultural and technological
damage and to maintain the technological and agricultural
infrastructure. They shall also estimate, monitor, and re-
port the effects of climate change on agricultural and tech-
nological systems, including utilities, transportation, com-
munication, and industry.
SEC. 6. DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONSIBILITY.
The President shall provide, in the regulation promul-
gated 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 gov-
ernment, 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 di-
rection of the Council established in section 5(b), to
review, coordinate, and provide assistance with re-
spect to each State plan resulting from the coopera-
tion 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-ef-
ficient solar thermal electric power facilities that dis-
place carbon dioxide producing facilities.
(5) Widespread public participation.
(6) Extensive cooperation with international or-
ganizations.
SEC. 7. CRISIS MANAGEMENT.
The President shall provide, in the regulation promul-
gated under section 4(a), for a unified crisis management
operation through coordinated international, Federal,
State, and local interdisciplinary activity designed to mini-
mize damage from, and to maintain agricultural and in-
dustrial production under, changing atmospheric condi-
tions that cause natural disasters.
SEC. 8. EVALUATION.
The President shall provide, in the regulation promul-
gated under section 4(a), for extensive and ongoing eval-
uation 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 cre-
ated pursuant to section 5(c) of the decrease in car-
bon dioxide achieved by reforestation, soil improve-
ment, 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 inter-
national treaties and agreements affecting ecology
standards.
SEC. 9. FUNDING.
(a) TAX REVENUES.—
(1) IMPOSITION
OF
CORPORATE
TAX
SUR-
CHARGE.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chap-
ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (re-
lating to determination of tax liability) is
amended by adding at the end thereof the fol-
lowing 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 (de-
termined 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 allow-
able under subpart A, B, or D of part IV of this sub-
chapter 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 Sec-
retary) to a tax imposed by another section of this chapter,
such tax shall be deemed to be imposed by such other sec-
tion.
‘‘(e) TERMINATION.—No tax shall be imposed by this
section for any taxable year beginning after December 31,
1996.’’