Environmental thoughts in a global economy...

I may reveal my complete ignorance of the terms of the Kyoto Protocol with this post, but I'll share my thoughts anyway since this story made me think about the problems of environmental pollution in a slightly different way.

On my drive home from work, NPR ran a story about the unresolved problems with carbon emissions resulting from steel production. Quite a bit of carbon dioxide comes from the production of steel, and the explosion of high rise buildings in both the developed and developing world has created a huge environmental problem in ways not as obvious as one would think.

China is cornering the market on cheap steel by putting little to no restrictions on the amount of carbon emissions their factories can produce. Meanwhile, American steel mills will likely be forced out of the market due to higher costs of steel production once government environmental restrictions are put in place on domestic factories here in the U.S. The end result is a double whammy to both the U.S. economy and the environment. As China can provide a cheaper product, their factories will continue to boost production, creating even higher carbon emissions despite efforts to curb such pollution here in the U.S., and American factories will essentially be forced out of business.

Thinking in those terms, the Bush administration essentially pulling the United States out of the Kyoto Protocol by not submitting it to Congress for ratification, seems like a smart move if one is trying to preserve the U.S. economic interests both for big business and for the blue collar steel worker. If the end result is even more pollution and a weakened U.S. economy, what did we ever have to gain in ratifying this treaty? Am I missing something here?