skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Door still open for action on issue of global warming

Journal Article · · Oil and Gas Journal; (United States)
OSTI ID:5034570

Global warming may or may not be a legitimate environmental threat, but Washington lobbyists consider it a legislative threat. It does not appear the current Congress will limit or tax use of U.S. fossil fuels, whose burning releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This paper reports that some scientists have claimed a concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will result in a significant warming of the earth by 2050, threatening agriculture, altering ecosystems, and even melting polar ice and causing rising oceans to flood coastal areas and islands. In 1990 a United Nations panel of climate scientists predicted a 2{degrees} C. increase in world temperatures within 35 years and 6{degrees} by the end of the next century. Some scientists say preventing further increases will require a 60% reduction in current CO{sub 2} emissions. The oil industry already is beginning to feel heat from the global warming issue. The Environmental Protection Agency calculates energy production and use is responsible for 57% of current emissions caused by man.

OSTI ID:
5034570
Journal Information:
Oil and Gas Journal; (United States), Vol. 90:22; ISSN 0030-1388
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English