美國總統(tǒng)布什14日指示聯(lián)邦機構(gòu)，要求其制定措施，在未來10年內(nèi)將美國的汽油消費量減少20%，并降低美國的汽車尾氣排放量。這是拒絕簽署《京都議定書》的布什政府首次表態(tài)要采取措施減排溫室氣體。
President Bush has ordered major government agencies to start work on
drafting new regulations to cut dangerous auto emissions. VOA's Paula Wolfson
has details from the White House.
The president is coming under
increasing pressure to tackle America's energy woes.
The Supreme Court has ruled that carbon dioxide emissions from cars and
trucks must be regulated by the government. At the same time, gasoline prices
are rising to record levels across the country and consumers are demanding
action.
The president says his administration has already proposed a plan to cut
America's dependence on foreign fuels by 20 percent in 10 years by setting fuel
efficiency standards for certain vehicles and promoting alternatives to
gasoline. He says he is stepping up the process by ordering all government
agencies involved in energy policy to work together to come up with new
regulations.
"We now have reached a pivotal moment where advances in technology are
creating new ways to improve energy security, strengthen national security and
protect the environment," he said.
But the president cautions that change will not come overnight.
"This is a complicated legal and technical matter and it is going to take
time to fully resolve," he said. "Yet it is important to move forward, so I have
directed members of my administration to complete the process by the end of
2008."
That means the new regulations will not be ready until the end of the
president's term in office
Democrats seeking their party's 2008 presidential nomination are already
making the president's record on the environment an election issue.
Leading Democrats have criticized President Bush for his refusal to sign the
Kyoto Protocol - an international agreement that calls for mandatory controls on
emissions that trap heat in the atmosphere. These gases have been labeled by
many scientists as the primary cause of the climate change phenomenon known as
global warming.
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（來源：VOA 英語點津姍姍編輯）
