Sierra Club Statement on House Clean Energy Bill

May 13, 2009 -- Washington, D.C.--The House Energy and Commerce Committee has reportedly reached agreement on a compromise version of the American Clean Energy & Security Act, a comprehensive clean energy and climate plan. With the full committee markup set to begin this later week, the Sierra Club offered the following comments.

Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director

"Chairmen Waxman and Markey have done heroic work in reaching agreement on the Energy and Commerce Committee around a comprehensive clean energy and climate plan, a critically important milestone that has faced seemingly insuperable obstacles. Their leadership has been truly remarkable. But it is clear that Big Oil, Big Coal and other polluters are still holding out for a Congressional bailout. They will continue to try to riddle this legislation with loopholes, water it down, and load it up with hundreds of billions of dollars in giveaways. They don't want it to deliver a recovery fueled by the clean energy jobs that America needs.

"These polluters are trying to strangle the clean energy economy in its cradle, steal the benefits of the clean energy future from the American people, and keep us addicted to oil and dirty coal. As this bill moves through the many remaining steps in the legislative process, we will work to strengthen this bill, so that it meets President Obama's challenge to Congress and the American people. Only a bill which accomplishes these three things can really jumpstart the green recovery, build the clean energy future, and end our addiction to oil and coal:

* Dramatically ramp up America's transition to cleaner, cheaper energy sources like wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal
* Slash energy waste in order to cut emissions quickly and cheaply, while saving consumers money on their energy bills
* Close the carbon pollution loophole and make polluters pay for the carbon pollution they emit

Source: Sierra Club