1Sky - Alliance for Climate Protection - American Rivers - Audubon - Blue Green Alliance - Center for American Progress Action Fund - Clean Air Task Force - Clean Water Action - Climate Solutions - Conservation Law Foundation - Defenders of Wildlife - Earthjustice - Environment America - Environment Northeast - Environmental Defense Fund - Environmental and Energy Study Institute - Fresh Energy - Friends of the Earth - Greenpeace - Izaak Walton League - League of Conservation Voters - League of Women Voters - MoveOn.org - National Parks Conservation Association - National Wildlife Federation - Natural Resources Defense Council - Oceana - Oxfam America - Physicians for Social Responsibility - Safe Climate Campaign - Second Nature - Sierra Club - Southern Alliance for Clean Energy - Southern Environmental Law Center - Student PIRGs - Union of Concerned Scientists - Wilderness Society
January 8, 2010
The Honorable Harry Reid
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Reid,
On behalf of our millions of members and supporters nationwide, we strongly urge you to oppose Senator Lisa Murkowski’s amendment to the debt limit bill (H.J.Res. 45). This attack on the Clean Air Act would put public health at risk and jeopardize long-overdue action to hold the biggest polluters accountable, reduce America’s oil dependence, and jump-start a vibrant clean energy economy.
The Clean Air Act is a law with a nearly 40-year track record of cutting dangerous pollution to protect human health and the environment and spur innovation. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that global warming pollutants are covered by the Clean Air Act. In his first year in office, President Barack Obama began carrying out the law by issuing landmark clean vehicle standards – with the support of auto companies, auto workers, states, and environmentalists – that will save consumers money at the pump, cut global warming pollution, reduce America’s oil dependence, and create new jobs making more efficient and competitive vehicles.
The Clean Air Act will also ensure that the largest power plants and factories use modern technology to reduce their global warming pollution and use cleaner energy. EPA has already proposed to tailor those rules to exempt small carbon emitters and apply them only to large sources that have long been subject to similar standards for other pollutants.
Instead of embracing this progress, Senator Murkowski’s amendment would strike at the heart of the Clean Air Act, blocking these actions and letting America’s biggest polluters off the hook. It would also undermine our country’s credibility just after President Obama helped to secure commitments to reduce emissions from all major economies, including China and India. Here at home, thousands of American businesses are waiting for Congress to set a clear energy and climate policy that will unlock billions of dollars in job-creating clean energy investments, but the Murkowski proposal would derail that long-overdue progress.
A vote for Senator Murkowski’s amendment is a step backwards for public health. It puts our communities at risk, undermines the new clean energy economy, and inappropriately injects Congress into scientific decisions. Instead of standing in the way of progress, Congress should move quickly to enact the comprehensive energy and climate legislation the country needs to build a clean energy economy, create jobs, and protect the environment.
Sincerely,
Liz Butler Deputy Campaign Director 1Sky
Kevin Curtis Program Director Alliance for Climate Protection
William Hewes Climate Policy Coordinator American Rivers
Mike Daulton Senior Policy Director Audubon
Yvette Pena Lopes Director of Legislation and Intergovernmental Affairs Blue Green Alliance
Daniel J. Weiss Senior Fellow and Director of Climate Strategy Center for American Progress Action Fund
Ann Brewster Weeks Senior Counsel, Legal Director Clean Air Task Force
Lynn Thorp National Campaigns Coordinator Clean Water Action
Gregg Small Executive Director Climate Solutions
Seth Kaplan Vice President for Climate Advocacy Conservation Law Foundation
Robert Dewey Vice President, Government Relations & External Affairs Defenders of Wildlife
Martin Hayden Vice President of Policy and Legislation Earthjustice
Emily Figdor Director, Federal Global Warming Program Environment America
Derek K. Murrow Energy & Climate Policy Director Environment Northeast
Elizabeth Thompson Legislative Director Environmental Defense Fund
Carol Werner Executive Director Environmental and Energy Study Institute
J. Drake Hamilton Science Policy Director Fresh Energy
David Hirsch Director of Programs Friends of the Earth
Damon Moglen Global Warming Campaigns Director Greenpeace
Scott Kovarovics Conservation Director Izaak Walton League
Tiernan Sittenfeld Legislative Director League of Conservation Voters
Judy Duffy Advocacy Chair League of Women Voters of the United States
Justin Ruben Executive Director. MoveOn.org
Mark Wenzler Director, Clean Air and Climate National Parks Conservation Association
Jeremy Symons Senior Vice President, Conservation and Education Programs National Wildlife Federation
Franz A. Matzner Legislative Director, Climate Center Natural Resources Defense Council
Beth Lowell Federal Policy Director Oceana
Linda Delgado Government Affairs Director Oxfam America
Kirsten Welker-Hood Environment and Health Director Physicians for Social Responsibility
Dan Becker Director Safe Climate Campaign
Anthony Cortese President Second Nature
Debbie Sease National Campaign Director Sierra Club
Jennifer Rennicks Federal Policy Director Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Nat Mund Legislative Director Southern Environmental Law Center
Sujatha Jahagirdar Political Director Student PIRGs Alden Meyer Director of Strategy and Policy Union of Concerned Scientists
David H. Moulton Director, Climate Policy & Conservation Funding The Wilderness Society