Help with Passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, June, 2009

I sat in (with 600 others) on a conference call call on Wednesday, June 10 with Reps. Waxman and Markey. Both said that it was extremely important that we generate as many contacts as possible in the next two weeks to assist with passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act in the house. The urgency is even greater than I had imagined.

So - we need to let our Congressmen and women hear from us in the next two weeks that we are strongly in favor of passage of this bill. Chairman Waxman said that he is hoping to get it through the House basically as is and that any enhancements need to be made in the Senate. There were many questions about the concessions that had been made and the Representatives answered them and then left to go back to the floor, with their staffs fielding the questions for the last 20 minutes. Each concession had a plausible reason and there will be the ability to strengthen the the legislation in coming years in accordance with new science. As for the 17% CO2 reduction from 2005 by 2020 - Waxman said that with the other provisions, such as the renewable energy standard and the tropical forest protection that the true amount of decreased CO2 would actually be between 28-33% by 2020, which is a stronger statement to take to Copenhagen.

Some references to and analyses of the bill - note especially the stance of your congressperson and his or her contact information:
NPR Morning Edition: June 11, 2009
PowerShift09 Analysis
FTN Analysis
1SkyOverview
GRIST Summary
Your Congressperson's Contact Info
Your Congressperson's Stance on the Bill
1Sky Talking points
RePower America
350.org
Union of Concerned Scientists: Climate 2030