Ecominds-a Mailing List: Letter to Sen. Boxer on moving and improving ACES

[Ralph Wyman (rwmuusja]

Dear EcoMind-ers,

 

MUUSJA was offered the chance to sign on to a letter to Senator Boxer
regarding ACES (the Climate Change bill).  Due to short turn-around, and
that several other UU State Networks were also signing on, I took initiative
to sign us on as well.

 

Below is the letter.  12 UU organizations, including the UUA, UUSC, UU UNO,
UU Ministry for Earth and seven UU State Advocacy Networks/Legislative
Ministries were among the 300+ signing organizations.

 

Also, here's a great quote from a signer, and someone who we've talked about
inviting to speak to MUUSJA:

"The everyday people of America have been left out of the climate debate. We
are building a grassroots movement that reflects the diversity of America,
to mobilize everyday people who are experiencing the affects of climate
change. We aim to defeat entrenched fossil fuel polluting special interests
in Washington and pass a truly strong climate bill," said Tom Goldtooth of
the Indigenous Environmental Network.

 

And here's a broader faith message:

"We haven't yet seen the bold leadership from Congress that's required to
solve the climate crisis," said Church World Service Director of Education
and Advocacy Rajyashri Waghray. "We're sending this letter to demonstrate
broad grassroots support for such leadership."

 

More soon, as Congress re-convenes in less than a week.  H.I.R.E. is working
with EJAM to set up a meeting late next week with Senator Klobuchar's
Minneapolis office, too.

 

- Ralph

 

 

 

August 26, 2009

The Honorable Barbara Boxer

Chairman, U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee

Hart Building 112

Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Boxer,

 

Thank you for your continued leadership on the climate crisis. The
environmental, economic, and public health

threats of global warming - both in the United States and around the world -
require a strong climate bill. We

are profoundly concerned that as currently written, H.R. 2454 (American
Clean Energy and Security Act or

"ACES") falls far short. We are writing on behalf of the millions of members
our organizations represent to

urge you to draft a companion bill that provides the transformational change
and greenhouse emissions

reductions required to avert catastrophic climate impacts.

 

The Senate bill must set an economy wide cap on greenhouse emissions that is
consistent with the best

available science and that can be ratcheted down as necessary. Findings from
the U.S. Global Change

Research Center, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and many other
institutions and scientists

indicate that the atmospheric greenhouse gas stabilization target of 450
parts per million CO2eq is far too high

to avoid the risk of catastrophic climate change. Leading scientists
currently warn that CO2 must be reduced to

no more than 350 parts per million. Yet the cap set by H.R. 2454 is
insufficient even to achieve 450 parts per

million CO2eq. The Senate bill must contain reduction targets consistent
with the best available science,

representing the U.S. fair global share of reductions within the world's
remaining carbon budget, and must

include immediate action on short-lived global warming pollutants including
black carbon and methane to slow

warming in the near term.

 

The Clean Air Act already provides many of the necessary tools to reduce
greenhouse pollutants.

Therefore, the Clean Air Act rollbacks in H.R. 2454, which would actually
reduce existing pollution

control requirements, facilitate the construction of additional coal fired
power plants, and grandfather in

unnecessary pollution from existing plants, must be removed. The critical
safety net of the Clean Air Act

must be retained, not discarded in favor of a new, untested system, placing
all of our eggs in one precarious

basket. Existing Clean Air Act authority should be strengthened by adding
deadlines for the oldest and dirtiest

coal fired power plants to meet pollution reduction requirements or shut
down.

 

The Senate bill should eliminate the many loopholes in HR2454 and ensure the
integrity of the pollution

reduction system. A top priority must be to eliminate or greatly limit and
restrict offsets, which allow actual

pollution from capped sources to increase, creating localized toxic hotspots
in people of color and vulnerable

communities, delay a shift to low carbon technologies in the United States,
and increase the risks in carbon

markets. In addition, the House provision prohibiting a full life-cycle
analysis of bio-fuels must be reversed.

 

The Senate bill should protect low- and middle- income families. Regardless
of the chosen mechanism, the

setting of carbon prices must be transparent, stable, and predictable, while
minimizing the ability of private

entities to manipulate the carbon price. We do not believe the market
mechanisms contained in the current cap

and trade proposal achieve this. The Senate bill should ensure there are
adequate protections from climate

change for low-income families, vulnerable communities domestically and
globally, Native American and

Indigenous peoples including protections and dividends for low-income
consumers and adequate international

finance for adaptation.

 

The Senate bill should provide for abundant clean energy. The Senate bill
should provide mandates and

incentives for abundant clean energy sources such as low-impact solar, wind,
and non-dam hydro, which do not

add toxic burdens to communities and workers, and do not require
incineration technologies.

 

The Senate bill should eliminate polluter giveaways, including massive
subsidies to coal and oil. Scarce

government funding should not go to dangerous fossil fuel or nuclear
industries or allow damaging practices

such as mountaintop removal mining. Instead, public money should go to
investments in energy efficiency,

renewable energy and the creation of green jobs.

 

The Senate bill should live up to the United States' international
obligations. For a fair global deal with

meaningful global emissions reductions, the United States must both deeply
reduce emissions domestically and

provide adequate international climate finance for clean technology,
adaptation, and support a stop to

deforestation. Fulfilling these commitments will be essential to securing an
effective international agreement.

 

We recognize the massive political effort that is necessary to pass climate
legislation, but a bill with inadequate

targets, loophole-ridden mechanisms, rollbacks of our flagship environmental
laws, and inadequate financing

for developing countries to address climate change will move us in the wrong
direction. We urge you to pass a

strong climate bill consistent with the principles outlined above.

 

Thank you.

Sincerely,

 

[300 organization names.]