Clean Air Is Under Attack
It’s an outrage. 2010 should start in a way that reflects our movement’s incredible accomplishments from last year — moving the ball forward to passage of comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. Instead, our elected leaders are proposing policies that would set us back decades and let the worst polluters completely off the hook.
Despite the chorus of alarm bells sounding the need to take up the climate crisis and stop polluting the air our families breathe and the water we drink, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and her allies are attacking the Clean Air Act — for the second time in six months.
And it gets worse. Last night, news broke that the original version of the amendment was literally drafted with lobbyists for the oil and coal industry.*
We defeated this same try once already, just six months ago — but the fossil fuel lobby is at it again. The amendment would strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its ability to regulate most carbon pollution, letting the worst polluters completely off the hook.
Efforts like this are designed to do one thing and one thing only — slow our transition to a clean energy economy that will make millions of new jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and solve the climate crisis.
Help flood your Senators with messages to vote NO on this attack on the Clean Air Act.
The very last thing we should do in the fight to end the climate crisis is throw away tools that we already know are effective at reducing pollution. But that’s just so what Senator Murkowski’s bid does.
For decades, the Clean Air Act has kept millions of tons of pollutants out of our air and water. Senator Murkowski’s bid would make an Alaska-sized loophole in the Clean Air Act, giving a pass to the largest carbon polluters.
http://cpaf.repoweramerica.org/cleanair
In 2010, our movement to solve the climate crisis will face its largest test yet — passing comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. But if Senator Murkowski’s amendment passes, some in Congress will use it as an excuse to keep stalling — and the long overdue promise of progress toward a 21st century clean energy economy will be lost.
You helped stop this toxic amendment once before. Collectively, we can and must stop it again.
Thank you,
Al Gore
