Last week, the U.S. Senate stalled debate on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, the most serious clean energy bill ever taken up by the full Senate. The bill was intended to be an outline for our country to begin cutting the pollution that is a result of our dependence on oil and provide America with the opportunity to transition to a clean-energy economy.
Though the bill is lengthy and complex, these are some of the important provisions:
- Reduce the amount of overall carbon pollution
- Provide federal investment to spur efficiency-ways that we can save energy
- Provide federal investment in renewable energy like solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass
- Require polluters to pay for permits to dirty the air
- Invest in new technology and clean energy jobs
- Protect consumers from rising energy costs
- Give incentives to protect forests- (trees reduce carbon)
- Provide funding for protection and restoration of natural resources
- Provide funding to cities to assist with energy efficiency projects like green roofs and solar panels
The Senate spent three days using stall tactics to avoid any meaningful discussion on the bill, and then on Friday voted to end the debate. League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski said, “By introducing and fighting for this bill, we have put the majority of the Senate on record in support of cap-and-trade legislation and set the stage for significant action next year. The American people know that the alternative to high gas prices is a real alternative to oil.
“As American families struggle under ever increasing gas prices and higher costs of food and health care, this was a missed opportunity to provide some real alternatives to America’s addiction to foreign oil. While all of us will have to make changes in the way we think and live, this is also an issue where we have the most to gain or lose.
“Necessity is the mother of invention” and our country is resourceful and smart enough to know that we can not afford any more political stall tactics. We must make it clear in the November elections what is important to us, and elect a new president and Senate who together will pass a strong clean-energy bill next year that will move us forward into an energy future that will benefit people as well as protect the health of our planet.
Carolyn Schretzmann-Jebaily
Project director for Climate Change and Sustainability
Conservation Voters of South Carolina
Florence
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