American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454)

American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) has become the poster child for partisanship and the success of lobbyists -- do we risk passing a badly needed bill that is grossly flawed, rewarding DIRTY COAL, neutering EPA, and not accomplishing what really needs to be accomplished because lobbyists waved campaign donations and gained concessions?

.

More will be posted as my limited time permits, but it's clear the Act needs to be improved.

.
On Friday, the House is voting on the American Clean Energy and Security Act (the Waxman-Markey bill, HR 2454), the first climate bill to have any chance of getting congressional approval. Our generation - and our world - needs America to take action on the climate crisis, but the current bill falls short of the reforms we need. We must make it stronger, and now is our chance.Write a message below to your Representative now to demand that they support strengthening amendments to the climate bill that:

Hold polluters accountable by restoring the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate coal plants

Increase investment in green jobs and in protecting vulnerable communities against the impacts of global warming

Improve the renewable energy standard to create more clean energy jobs.

.


.
Click to send a letter to your rep.
.

From Credo :
.
Why did you let Big Coal ruin the climate bill?
.
Talk about an inconvenient truth.
.
Since Reps. Henry Waxman and Ed Markey introduced their landmark global warming legislation (HR 2454: The American Clean Energy and Security Act), the bill has been dramatically weakened and the calls to strengthen the bill have not been heeded. We cannot support this legislation as currently written.
.
For example, the legislation now:
.
Slashes requirements for renewable energy;
.
Reduces the targets for CO2 emissions;
.
Subsidizes the coal industry to the tune of $60 billion!
.
Eliminates EPA's power to further regulate CO2 emissions from any industry covered by the bill; and
Removes EPA from oversight of carbon offsets that relate to farming.
.
The way Congress works, a weak bill becomes the basis for negotiations within the Senate, which is even less concerned about global warming than the House. If this is the best we can do in the House, it will only get worse in the Senate.
.

The sad truth is that the coal, gas, oil, auto, and farming interests are much more powerful than environmentalists. Corporate polluters have managed to take decent legislation and turn it upside down so that it will help them more than the planet.
.

It serves nobody to pretend that this is not true. Environmental organizations in recent weeks have sent dozens of requests asking their members to help strengthen and then pass this legislation. Ask any of theses groups if the strengthen part has happened on any of our demands.
.
It has not.
.
Fortunately, if Congress cannot enact comprehensive legislation this year, great progress can and should be made using EPA's powers along with narrower bills on such matters as a nationwide renewable standard.
.
Sign the petition


HR 2454: The American Clean Energy and Security Act has been dramatically weakened and the calls to strengthen the bill have not been heeded. For example, the legislation now:
.
Slashes requirements for renewable energy;
.
Reduces the targets for CO2 emissions;
.
Subsidizes the coal industry to the tune of $60 billion!
.
Eliminates EPA's power to further regulate CO2 emissions from any industry covered by the bill; and
.
Removes EPA from oversight of carbon offsets that relate to farming.
.
Please explain to your constituents why didn't you stand up to coal and strengthen the climate bill.
.
Additional information:

How the media is creating a climate for change

Environmental Defense Fund :


Key Features of the American Clean Energy and Security Act


'This is the moment': House vote on landmark climate bill set for Friday (worth reading in its entirety):
.
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on landmark climate legislation this Friday. The American Clean Energy and Security Act would create a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions, bringing them below 1990 levels by 2020.
.
With the vote approaching, opponents of the bill are stepping up their attacks. Prominent among them are American Solutions for Winning the Future, an advocacy group led by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and co-founded by billionaire businessmen including Roger Milliken, heir to a South Carolina textile fortune and longtime patron of conservative causes.
.
The group -- which was also behind the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" campaign to promote offshore oil and gas drilling -- blasts the ACES bill as an "energy tax" in a TV ad it's currently airing. American Solutions, which says it has collected more than 123,000 signatures on a petition against the bill, points to a study by the conservative, pro-business Heritage Foundation to back up its claims that the legislation would be enormously expensive and wreck the economy.
.

We all know where this group is coming from. They're not promoting environmentally responsible solutions or those that will benefit the average Jo - you and me.

.