A group of Democratic US Senators on Tuesday sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) urging him to preserve Clean Air Act protections that require coal-fired power plants to meet modern pollution standards in any energy and climate legislation that reaches the Senate floor.
The letter was also sent to Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), who for months have been crafting a comprehensive clean energy and climate proposal that they are reportedly unveiling as soon as this week. The letter makes the case that preserving these protections is critical to moving the United States to clean energy at a reasonable pace and successfully curbing global warming.
“As strong supporters of clean energy, we urge you to ensure that energy and climate legislation builds on the existing Clean Air Act and does not create loopholes for old, inefficient, and polluting coal-fired power plants. The bill should require coal-fired power plants–old and new alike–to meet up-to-date performance standards for carbon dioxide that will complement an overall cap on emissions and move America to clean energy,” wrote the group of Senators.
As Congress has debated energy and climate legislation, the question of global warming pollution standards for coal-fired power plants has been hotly debated. The clean energy and climate legislation passed last year by the House of Representatives, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, rolled back the Clean Air Act requirements that existing coal plants meet performance standards for global warming pollution. By contrast, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee late last year reported comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation that preserved these Clean Air Act protections.
The following Senators signed the letter: Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Senator Al Franken (D-MN).
UCS Sends Its Own Letter
More than 500 scientists sent a letter to Congress yesterday, urging lawmakers to oppose House and Senate resolutions that would reverse the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) finding that global warming endangers public health. The letter was organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
"Because the EPA’s finding is based on solid science, this amendment also represents a rejection of that science," the letter stated. "The EPA’s endangerment finding is based on an exhaustive review of the massive body of scientific research showing a clear threat from climate change."
The 569 signatories pointed out that 18 U.S. scientific societies, the National Academy of Sciences, and 10 international scientific academies support the consensus view that the primary driver of climate change is human activity, specifically burning fossil fuels and destroying forests.
But Republicans Don’t Want to Hear It
Top House Republicans on Tuesday launched the second Congressional effort in a week aimed at preventing U.S. EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
Read the New York Times report at the link below.
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