On November 10, 2009, Senator Kerry claimed that his cap-and-trade bill was necessary because U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased four times as fast over the last eight years than in the 1990s. But Senator Kerry isn’t in command of the facts, because greenhouse gas emissions increased far slower in the 2000s than the 1990s.
According to data from the Energy Information Administration, from 1990 through 1999 U.S. carbon dioxide emissions increased by 15.14% but from 2001 to 2008 carbon dioxide emissions only increased by 1.88%.
If Senator Kerry were correct, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions would have increased by 60.5% over the last years, but carbon dioxide emissions only increased by 1.88%. Senator Kerry is off by a multiple of 32.
