Planet Ark (does this name have fundamentalist religious connotations?) reported on the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission's adoption of the greenhouse gas emission reduction goals outlined by the Kyoto Protocol.   They noted that the commission "has become the latest US region to buck the Bush administration by agreeing to greenhouse gas emissions goals outlined by an international pact on global warming."   They say "President George W. Bush withdrew from the international pact early in his first term, saying it would hurt the economy and unfairly left rapidly developing countries without emissions limits in its first round."

The NJ Meadowlands Commission, created by law passed in 1969, is a multi-jurisdictional oversight body whose job is to oversee environmental protection, economic development, and solid waste management of a swampy area between several communities.   The total area under its authority is 30 square miles (that's 3 by 10 or 5 by 6, if you prefer), half of which is wasteland.   The land under the Commission's purview would only be economically valuable if it were first landfilled which much of it has been.

The Meadowlands is a key part of the natural ecosystem which ultimately flows into Newark Bay.   It was used and abused for a long time before the Commission was formed.   This abuse hit its height with the building of the Meadowlands Sports Complex which are the home of the NFL Giants and Jets, and for the time being, the NBA Nets and NHL Devils who are slated to move soon.   In the wake of the creation of the sports complex, numerous shopping malls and other business property sprouted up.   The area also has been used for largescale solid waste disposal.   It has been subjected to voluminous sewage and hazardous waste dumped there legally and illegally.   During and after World War II, the military dumped refuse there and rubble from London was also dumped in the Meadowlands.

The New Jersey Turnpike is built right through the middle of the swamps.   If you are traveling out of Manhattan into New Jersey via route 95 and down the Turnpike, you will notice that shortly after you get away from the Hudson River, you enter an area in which there are vast undeveloped swamplands with dots of significant urban development all around.   That is the area referred to as the "Meadowlands" or "Hackensack Meadowlands."   That is the area under the Commission's authority.   It is not a "US region" as the Planet Ark report calls it.   It's a swamp whose adoption of the Kyoto Protocol is meaningless.

It is a mystery to me what a swamp can do to adhere to Kyoto.   One of the major functions of any swamp is to turn biological waste into methane.   Swamps spew methane at an incredible rate.   The only way to prevent that is to drain all the water and put concrete over it!   And regardless of the slight bending of reality of calling the Meadowlands a "region," one is also left wondering how a swamp adopts the Kyoto Protocol.   Kyoto does not drill down to every "region" of the world and dictate certain carbon emission levels for every 5 by 6 mile area.   So what exactly will the Commission do to adhere to the international treaty?   Carbon emissions in the Meadowlands generally have not been monitored.   There can be no benchmark of future emissions to attain.   This is all so much hot air you'd have to wonder if it isn't creating further global warming.

All this stuff is not what bothers me most about the Planet Ark report.   What does irritate me beyond words is the statement, "President George W. Bush withdrew from the international pact early in his first term."   Let's keep our eyes on real history which actually happened and not re-invent it.   Al Gore had a lot to do with the Kyoto Protocol's development during his second term as Vice President.   He brought the treaty back with him and presented it to his boss, President William Jefferson Clinton.   Clinton decided not to present the treaty to Congress because the Senate voted 99 - 1 to not even consider any such treaty.   Nothing much changed on the political landscape after Bush took office so the treaty was never submitted to the Senate as all treaties must.

Mr. Bush does believe the treaty would hurt the economy and unfairly left rapidly developing countries without emissions limits in its first round.   He did, in fact, say this.   But regardless of his personal beliefs, he could not unilaterally adopt it.   All treaties have to pass before the Senate.   Similarly, it isn't Bush's job to withdraw from treaties which have never been adopted.   Planet Ark is both giving the President too much authority and laying unwarranted blame at his feet.