The Clean Air Act

You may have already received  emails from environmental  groups about the climate legis- lation unveiled yesterday by  Senators John Kerry and Joe  Lieberman. Most call for its  immediate passage. A few say  the bill is so flawed it should be  killed.  CREDO has a longer  analysis.  The morally critical and scientifically necessary goal of  reversing global warming has run into the political reality  of a Senate with rules allowing immense power to be exercised  by a minority of senators who are effectively controlled by the  biggest oil companies, the utility industry, and the nuclear  industry. In other words, despite your best efforts, this legislation has been hijacked and is appropriately no longer even  called global warming but is now called power legislation. We understand that passing legislation involves difficult  compromise. If this legislation actually would eventually stop  global warming, it would be worth many compromises. But  this legislation does not. Outrageously, and at great danger to our economy and  ecosystem, this bill provides for new offshore oil drilling.  In an earlier version, it garnered the support of BP, which is  responsible for one of the biggest environmental disasters in  American history. You can be assured the major oil  companies are happy with what their lobbyists were able to  insert into the Kerry-Lieberman bill, though you can bet that  Sen. Kerry will no longer name-drop BP when bragging  about the historic compromises struck to bring this bill to the  floor of the Senate. Even worse, some politicians and environmental organizations  are using the Gulf Coast tragedy to push for passage of this  flawed bill. To hear their arguments, you'd think the bill adds  important safeguards and limits to offshore drilling. But in  reality, it significantly expands offshore drilling. Given that  hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil are spewing into the  Gulf of Mexico each day with no end in sight, there is no  excuse for increasing offshore drilling with this bill. We need to reinstate a moratorium on new offshore  drilling, and we need to do it now. Anyone who promotes  a bill that does otherwise has no credibility in our eyes. If  they believe that we must expand offshore oil drilling,  they should simply say so. The bill's targets are much too weak, falling far short of the  greenhouse gas reductions that scientists say are necessary  to credibly address climate change. And it explicitly guts  measures that are strong enough to ensure progress —  namely, key sections of the Clean Air Act and existing state  laws, such as the California legislation already passed that  calls for much deeper cuts in greenhouse gases. We don't favor the massive tax incentives and loan guarantees  that the bill plans to bestow on the nuclear power industry.  If the bill must contain nukes in order to get the last two or  three votes for passage in the Senate, tell us who those  senators are and we'll go to work on them! If nukes are in the  bill to appease Senator Graham, take them out — he has  already walked away from the legislation. Even if it's  inevitable that these subsidies be contained in the final  legislation, why give it away before the real negotiating  begins? In a few areas, the proposed legislation is actually better than  the Waxman-Markey bill passed by the House. There are  more direct to consumer rebates. The bill includes tougher  standards for stationary sources of carbon emissions.  "Carbon Tariffs" are included to protect us against imports  from countries with weak or no limits on greenhouse gas  pollution. But the bottom line still remains: The bill takes away key EPA  abilities to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act  and substitutes weaker standards that do not reverse global  warming. It preempts stronger state laws on global warming.  And it expands offshore drilling. With one exception, good bills go to die or be dramatically  worsened in the Senate. The exception is the current financial  reform bill, where a number of strong amendments have  passed due to the public's utter loathing of the gigantic banks.  Has public revulsion about dirty industries made it possible  to strengthen this legislation and get enough votes to over- come a filibuster? Probably not. But it is worth being clear  about what needs improvement and then fighting hard to  change votes. The worst thing is to bargain away key  environmental strategies and get nothing in return. Please join us and many others in calling on your senators  to fix the global warming bill by saving the Clean Air Act,  protecting stronger state laws, and banning new offshore  oil drilling. If these key points are not addressed, the  legislation should be defeated. We cannot support any legislation that takes us backward in  these three crucial areas. If these glaring weaknesses are  fixed, we can consider the revised legislation and may  support it. Click here to automatically tell your senators not to vote  for a climate bill that rolls back the Clean Air Act,  promotes new offshore oil drilling and eliminates stronger  state clean air laws. If Congress cannot enact comprehensive legislation this  year, great progress can and should be made using EPA's  Clean Air Act powers along with narrower bills on such  matters as a nationwide renewable standard. It would be  best for the world if the Senate could pass truly strong  legislation. But other countries will not be fooled by  passing legislation riddled with loopholes and pretending  that it reverses global warming. Thank you for taking action. The Senate must feel  immediate and overwhelming pressure to fix this  legislation. Michael Kieschnick, CEO CREDO Action