Dear Senator,
On behalf of Americans for Prosperity activists in all 50 states, I write urging you to vote against ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer (Kigali Amendment). This vote may be recorded in AFP’s 2022 legislative scorecard.
This United Nations treaty provision would impose costly restrictions, serving as a consumer tax on air conditioning and refrigeration, on the American people and give an unfair advantage to China and other industrial competitors of the United States.
In 2021 we wrote to this body and identified numerous areas of concern requiring close study and debate prior to Senate ratification. Those included:
- Abdication of U.S. sovereignty over environmental regulation to the UN.
- Increases prices for millions of American consumers and businesses for air conditioning, refrigeration, and industrial cooling, all of which depend on a robust supply of HFCs.
- Disadvantages American manufacturers compared to foreign competitors, including those in China, which gain preferential (i.e., cheaper) access to HFCs during Kigali’s phase-out period and millions of dollars in additional subsidies through a U.S. financed adaptation fund.
- The multilateral nature of the treaty eliminates Congress’s flexibility to update America’s approach to HFCs in response to emerging technology, market and economic conditions.
After denying Kigali the 67 votes required for ratification, the Senate should join the House in reversing recently enacted limits on domestic production of HFCs as part of a broader agenda to lower costs for consumers and businesses in the next Congress.
For these reasons, we again urge you to preserve America’s sovereign authority and vote against ratification of the Kigali Amendment.
Sincerely,
Brent Gardner
Chief Government Affairs Officer
Americans for Prosperity
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up