Congressman Reichert gets it right on H.R. 910, Amendment 6

I just sent the following e-mail to my congressman, Dave Reichert:

I would like to commend Congressman Reichert for voting "Aye" on H.R. 910, Amendment No. 6 which states "Congress accepts the scientific findings of the EPA that climate change is occuring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for public health and welfare." The Congressman was the only member of his party to do so, which to me is a sign of both courage and leadership. 

Although (incredibly) the amendment was voted down, whenever one of our elected officials ignores party pressure and instead pays attention to established science rather than ideological malarky, they deserve positive feedback.

Check here to see how your representative voted on the amendment. Whether they did the right thing or the wrong thing, tell them how you feel about the subject. The more feedback they get the better.

Duane Harkness

Short Sighted Assault on the Clean Air Act

On December 7, 2009 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that "current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases" including CO2 "threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations". This endangerment determination triggered the regulation of greenhouse gases as pollutants under the Clean Air Act. This action by the EPA was in response to the 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA that the EPA must determine whether or not emissions of greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles contribute to air pollution which could reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health.

On November 11, 2010, as a result of the endangerment determination, the EPA issued guidance material to state and local permitting authorities to aid them in controlling and reducing greenhouse gases in certain key industrial sectors such as electricity generation, industrial boilers, pulp and paper mills, cement, iron and steel, refineries and nitric acid plants. Starting January 2, 2011 the largest emitters of greenhouse gases were required to show regulators how they plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

On February 3, 2011 House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Fred Upton (R-Michigan), Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) and Representative Ed Whitfield (R-Kentucky) announced draft legislation called the "Energy Tax Prevention Act" that would prohibit the EPA from exercising its power to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The congressmen claim the purpose of this legislation is to stop the EPA "from imposing a backdoor cap-and-trade tax".

Upton, Inhofe and Whitfield do not understand climate science. They ignore the the well established scientific facts of climate change and the obvious economic damage it will cause here in the United States. This legislation hides under the guise of anti-tax rhetoric which will make it popular with the newly formed Tea Party faction of the Republican party, but it will end up having the opposite economic effect. We need to act now to curb our carbon emissions so that even more economically crippling regulation isn't required in the future.

If you live in a Republican represented district as I do, please write your congressman urging him/her not to support this bill. We need to help them get back on a sane track that both acknowledges the scientific facts of climate change as well as the need for an economically pragmatic approach to the issue that doesn't cripple our economy.