Real Costs of Kyoto

White House global warming flack Jefferson Seabright told the Society of Environmental Journalists' annual meeting in Los Angeles Sept. 17 that the "industry-based" economic models for the costs of the Kyoto Protocol were wrong because they were based upon "unrealistic" assumptions.

We have an alternative model to offer Seabright, one that may not be available on Pennsylvania Avenue: something called reality. In particular, the very high cost of food in Great Britain. Prices there have risen so much that Prime Minister Blair has established several commissions to find out why. He could have read the Sunday Telegraph instead.

According to Knight-Ridder's Ray Moseley, the Telegraph reported: "Government regulations designed to protect the environment make it difficult to get permission to build supermarkets in rural areas, and the cost of land for such stores is 40 percent higher in Britain than in the United States.

"The Telegraph also quoted management consultants McKinsey & Co., who said prices of just about everything are driven up in Britain by the high taxes the government imposes on gasoline...In 1993, Britain had Europe's cheapest gasoline, and now it has the most expensive, an average of about $4.69 a gallon."