Let's tell Congress it’s time to get serious about ending our fossil fuel addiction and act now to pass an energy bill that will set the US on a path to a clean energy future.
Progress on a federal climate and clean energy bill is again being bogged down in political maneuvering. On Monday, April 26, instead of the expected and long-awaited release of the bipartisan climate and clean energy bill, advocates of clean energy were greeted with news that Senator Graham, the Republican co-author of the bill, might pull his support from the legislation if immigration reform is given priority over climate on this year's Senate calendar. There is still hope that the three Senators who drafted the legislation will figure out a way to move forward—which they did in one sense by sending their proposed legislation to the Environmental Protection Agency last week for an economic impact analysis. But time is running out.
More after the jump
The mammoth costs to environmental and human life as a result of a recent mine disaster and a growing oil spill should be loud and clear wake-up calls to Congress: “Time is running out; the costs of business as usual are growing and unacceptable.”
American industry, looking to Congress for clear rules, say time is running out, too.
Some businesses are saying publicly that without federal climate and clean energy policies, they will move their clean energy operations abroad to countries that are committed to clean energy. In an interview in the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday, GE CEO Jeff Immelt said the U.S. has already fallen behind in the global clean energy race and called for federal clean energy standards. “Some leadership in Washington would be helpful,” he told the Chronicle. He also said that if the United States doesn't adopt clean energy policies, GE will have to go overseas: “We have to go where the action is.”
A 2010 climate/energy/jobs bill could set our country on a real, long-term path to ending our addiction to oil.
Numerous studies have shown the job creation potential of climate and clean energy policies, including studies of the thousands of green jobs that have already been created in places like California, Pennsylvania and Ohio thanks to strong measures that have been implemented in those states. Iowa is no exception, with a growing sector of clean energy jobs. Nationally, studies have projected that a federal climate and clean energy bill could create between 1.7 and 1.9 million jobs (The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy; Clean Energy and Climate Policy for U.S. Growth and Job Creation).
The Iowa Environmental Council is asking its supporters to call or email their Senators and President Obama this week and urge them not to delay action on comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation.
Follow this link to find a sample email, which can be sent directly from the Council's website to Senators Harkin and Grassley and President Obama.
Or if you wish to call in your comment to President Obama, call 202-456-1111. Senator Harkin’s phone number is 202-224-3254 and Senator Grassley’s phone number is 202-224-3744.