Yesterday, 13 U.S. Senators, including Al Franken from Minnesota, signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Reid, urging him to ensure that legislation does not weaken the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to protect human health by regulating coal-fired power plants and other global warming polluters.
Earlier this month, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) released the findings of a report they commissioned on the job impacts of a federal renewable electricity standard (RES). The "Jobs Impact of a National Renewable Electricity Standard" study, conducted by independent, third-party researchers at Navigant Consulting, Inc., found that a 25 percent by 2025 national RES would result in 274,000 more renewable energy jobs over business as usual.
Employed or not, jobs are on all of our minds these days. The word pops up everywhere, especially in conversations about clean energy and climate policy. But what would a climate policy actually do for American jobs? A recent update by Economics for Equity and the Environment (E3) might shed some light on the subject. The Climate Policy and Jobs: An Update on What Economists Know report highlights two main findings based on the knowledge of five leading economists. The bottom line: climate policy keeps and creates jobs.
In December, a bipartisan climate policy bill was quietly introduced in the U.S. Senate. Senators Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington state, and Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, introduced S. 2877, the Carbon Limits and Energy for America's Renewal (CLEAR) Act. The CLEAR bill has attracted increasing attention, including the lead editorial in today's Washington Post and a great commentary piece by Minnesota's own David Morris in the January 29 edition of the Star Tribune.
One of our nation's most valuable environmental laws is under attack by members of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. Their target: the Clean Air Act. In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined, based on an in-depth scientific evidence, that global warming pollutants endanger human health and welfare, including right here in the United States. Some of our federal elected officials are working to overturn that scientific finding and prevent policy that should help us protect public health into a toothless law on the crucial issue of lowering global warming pollution.
On Feb 4, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced the Ten Million Solar Roofs and Ten Million Gallons of Solar Hot Water Act, which would create a national rebate program for small solar photo voltaic and hot water heating systems installed in the next ten years.
In a just-released study, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) found that "if Congress passed climate and energy legislation that strengthened the energy efficiency and renewable energy standards in [the ACES bill] the House of Representatives approved last June, consumer electric and natural gas costs would be $113 billion lower by 2030, and emitters would pay 4 percent less in compliance costs." Read the entire analysis here.
The American Corn Growers Association (ACGA) is speaking out in strong support of national energy and climate legislation. Keith Dittrich, chairman of the board of the ACGA, spoke January 15 in Chicago. A corn and soybean farmer from Nebraska, Dittrich addressed cap and trade policy as an opportunity to "save our productive environment."
Energy efficiency means using energy better--through innovative technologies, processes, and equipment that power our daily activities with less energy. It's about smarter systems and streamlined technology that can make the energy we need go a lot further. Its also about economic recovery and job creation. That's what Senator Klobuchar and Cathy Zoi, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the Department of Energy, had to say yesterday at a regional competitiveness and energy efficiency summit at the University of Minnesota.
Our nation's Clean Air Act is under attack, putting our health at risk and jeopardizing action to jumpstart a clean energy economy and reduce our dependence on oil. Today Fresh Energy joined with 37 other local and national public interest organizations in sending a letter to the leadership of the U.S. Senate. Our message is that Congress must not stand in the way of progress, but should oppose Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski's effort to undermine the heart of the Clean Air Act. Instead, we need to use the Clean Air Act to reduce global warming pollutants. For ideas on how you can take action to make positive change, take a look at the resources on our Take Action page.
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