Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry and Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer today introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.
“This bill is a good beginning,” said Samantha Chadwick with Environment Minnesota. “It is the first of many steps toward a cleaner, healthier, and safer world.”
A major strength of the bill, according to Environment Minnesota, is that it preserves and builds on the Clean Air Act’s protections, which will enable America to move to wind, solar, and other clean energy technologies by requiring the nation’s fleet of old and inefficient coal-fired power plants to eventually meet modern air pollution standards.
In addition, the bill also improves on legislation passed by the House in June by aiming to cut global warming pollution from large polluters 20 percent by 2020. This comes just a week after the release of a sobering United Nations report concluding that the impacts of global warming are arriving faster than the world’s scientists had predicted just two years ago.
“Over the next few weeks, months, and years, we will need to do much more to capture the full potential of clean energy,” said Chadwick. “But this year begins the race to transform our energy system and avoid the worst impacts of global warming.”
Environment Minnesota applauded Senator Klobuchar for her leadership - she was among the speakers at this morning's bill introduction rally in D.C.
“We look forward to working with Senators Klobuchar and Franken to pass a bill that creates millions of clean energy jobs, makes America more energy independent, and cuts pollution fast enough to stave off the worst effects of global warming,” said Chadwick.
