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This year's priorities
A
New Energy Future
- Stimulate a clean
energy economy by extending clean energy tax incentives including the Renewable
Energy Production and Investment Tax Credits which expire at the end of
2008.
- Harness clean
renewable energy by passing a Renewable Electricity Standard of at least 20% by
2020. This goal is embodied in the Udall (NM) – Platts Federal Renewable Energy
Portfolio Act (H.R. 969) and legislation under development in the
Senate.
- Promote high
performance energy saving buildings by supporting federal policies to achieve a
goal of having all new buildings be net zero energy by 2030, and pass
legislation that rewards states that meet or exceed the strongest model
building energy codes.
- Shift government
resources to clean, efficient and renewable energy sources and phase out loan
guarantees and other subsidies for dirty coal and risky nuclear
power.
Global Warming
Solutions
- Support global
warming legislation that achieves the necessary science-based pollution
reduction targets to protect future generations from the worst effects of global
warming. These targets are embodied in the Safe Climate Act of 2007 (H.R. 1590)
and the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act (S.309) legislation introduced by
Rep. Waxman (CA), and Senators Sanders (VT) and Boxer (CA), to reduce global
warming pollution at least 15 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. Work to
strengthen—and oppose any weakening of—the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act
of 2007 (S. 2191).
- Uphold the rights of
states to regulate global warming pollution by supporting the Reducing Global
Warming Pollution from Vehicles Act of 2008 (S. 2555), introduced by Senator
Boxer.
- Support low-carbon
fuels legislation to reduce the life cycle global warming emissions of any
transportation fuels to 10% below today’s fuel
mix.
Parks, Open Spaces, Wild
Places
- Protect the Grand
Canyon from toxic mining.
Support the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007 (H.R. 2262) and similar
Senate legislation to ensure that our parks, pristine forests, and wild places
remain untarnished by mining activities.
- Protect pristine
National Forests from logging, mining, and development by supporting the
National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act (H.R. 2516) and Roadless Area
Conservation Act (S. 1478.) Also, protect our last wild forests by supporting
2001 roadless rule protections in the Idaho and Colorado federal
rulemakings.
- Protect the natural
heritage of the West and Alaska by limiting oil and gas activity, by passing the
Wild Sky Wilderness Act (H.R. 886) and Lewis and Clark Mt. Hood Wilderness Act
of 2007 (S. 647) and by promoting and protecting the National Landscape
Conservation System.
- Maintain and protect
our National Parks by ensuring adequate funding.
Our Rivers, Lakes and
Streams
.
- Ensure all U.S. waters – the Great Lakes and the Everglades
to the California Coast and streams and wetlands that feed into them
- remain protected by the Clean Water Act. (Clean Water Restoration Act H.R.
2421 and S. 1870.)
- Keep our waters free from sewage
pollution by adequately funding the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and
increasing incentives for green infrastructure.
- Protect the public from polluted
waters by notifying the public about sewage overflows into waterways by
supporting the Raw Sewage Overflow Community Right-to-Know Act (H.R. 2452) and
Sewage Overflow Right-to-Know Act (S. 2080).
- Increase compliance
with clean water protections by ensuring adequate funding for U.S. EPA’s
enforcement programs.
Ocean
Conservation
- Protect whales,
dolphins, and other ocean creatures by establishing new and expanding existing
marine sanctuaries, including passing the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine
Sanctuaries Boundary Modification and Protection Act (H.R.
1187.)
- Reauthorize and
strengthen the National Marine Sanctuaries Act by focusing its purpose on
protection of unique ocean ecosystems and marine animals and by ending the
moratorium on new sanctuaries.
- Protect our beaches
and oceans from offshore drilling by defending the 26-year-old moratorium on
expanding areas for offshore oil and gas exploration and
drilling.
- Prevent further
degradation of the ocean ecosystem with strong, clear rules to stop overfishing
and rebuild depleted fish populations as quickly as
possible.
Fighting Toxic Pollution
- Restore the public’s
right to know about toxic pollution of our air, land and water by supporting the
Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act H.R. 105 and S.
595.
- Promote green
chemistry by requiring high hazard facilities to use safer alternatives and
prevent pre-emption of further state innovation and
protection.
- Ensure adequate
funding to clean up America’s contaminated landscapes, waterways, and mountain
valleys by restoring Superfund’s polluter pay provisions as embodied in the
Superfund Equity and Megasite Remediation Act of 2007 (H.R. 1887 and S. 1179)
and the Superfund Reinvestment Act of 2007 (H.R.
3636.)
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Recent actions and resultsNow in its twelfth year, the annual Congressional Scorecard has been
one of the many citizenship tools used by Environment America
to preserve the environment, advocate in the public interest, and
revitalize participation in our democratic process. Click here to find out how your elected officials voted on key environmental issues.
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Click here for more on our work on federal environmental policy.
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