"A bold climate plan must
call for a ban on fracking and all new fossil fuel infrastructure, and a swift
and just transition to 100 percent clean, renewable energy across all sectors
of the economy."
Environmental advocacy groups
issued mixed responses Tuesday after Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce
Committee released the legislative text of a draft bill for a national climate
plan, with critics charging that the proposal isn't ambitious enough to address
the planetary crisis.
The draft Climate Leadership
and Environmental Action for our Nation (CLEAN) Future Act—largely seen as a
"competing
plan" to the Green
New Deal—was announced earlier
this month by the committee's chair, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.). Crafted after
15 committee hearings, the bill (pdf)
aims to ensure that the United States achieves net-zero greenhouse gas
pollution by 2050.
In a joint statement with
Reps. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), Pallone said Tuesday
that "every day, communities across the country are paying the price for
inaction through record wildfires, flooding, and drought, and Congress cannot
afford to simply watch from the sidelines."
"The CLEAN Future Act
treats this climate crisis like the emergency that it is, while also setting
the foundation for strengthening our economy and creating good paying jobs for
a clean and climate-resilient future," they added. "We look forward
to continuing to work with all impacted stakeholders on this proposal in the
coming months."
Food & Water Action policy
director Mitch Jones was quick to provide critical feedback with a statement of
his own Tuesday.
"At a moment when we need
bold, decisive action from Democrats in Congress in order to stand a chance of
averting climate catastrophe, Rep. Pallone and the House Energy and Commerce
Committee have come up far short," he said. "Simply put, this
legislation is a 'green new dud,' not a Green New Deal."
Detailing some of the ways in
which the CLEAN Future Act falls short of adequately addressing the crisis,
Jones added:
This proposed clean
electricity goal represents a wholly inadequate approach that would allow for
the continued long-term use of an array of dirty energy sources—including
fracked gas with unproven, undeveloped 'carbon capture' methods. A
'technology-neutral' approach leaves us primed for decades more greenhouse gas
emissions.
A bold climate plan must call
for a ban on fracking and all new fossil fuel infrastructure, and a swift and
just transition to 100 percent clean, renewable energy across all sectors of
the economy. We have no time to rely on market-based schemes, dubious offset
programs, or unproven carbon capture technologies designed to prolong the life
of the fossil fuel industry.
The committee's release of the
legislative text came just a day after Friends of the Earth U.S. and the
Partnership for Policy Integrity published an
analysis detailing the "dirty secrets" of the proposal based on the
information about the plan that had been publicized up until that point.
As Common Dreams reported Monday,
the analysis called the CLEAN Future Act "extremely disappointing"
and "a failure of climate leadership," and even suggested that it
"should really be called the Dirty Future Act."
Referencing the new analysis,
Friends of the Earth doubled down on its criticism of the measure in a
statement Tuesday. Lukas Ross, a senior policy analyst with the group, said
that "Chairman Pallone needs to do far more to protect communities and the
climate."
"The proposed starting
point for his clean electricity standard is startlingly high. Fossil fuels must
be kept in the ground, not kept in business. Emissions trading schemes and
other market gimmicks are unjust and ineffective," said Ross.
"Pallone is posing as an environmentalist, while trying to keep the door
wide open for fracked gas. This is the opposite of climate leadership."
Some advocacy organizations
were more welcoming of the proposal. Andrea McGimsey, senior director for
Environment America's Global Warming Solutions campaign, said Tuesday that
"this bill has the ability to serve as a strong step forward in focusing
the national conversation toward getting real solutions on the ground and
cutting carbon emissions as quickly as possible."
Rob Cowin, director of
government affairs for the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned
Scientists, echoed that sentiment and highlighted some of the bill's
accomplishments.
"Climate change is
already affecting people around the country and the science shows we need to
make swift, deep cuts in heat-trapping emissions across the economy to help
limit its harmful impacts," he said. "While not comprehensive, the
CLEAN Future Act is a thoughtful start to developing climate legislation that
addresses the scale and scope of the problem."
Cowin applauded the bill's
"strong focus on environmental justice, workforce development, modernizing
our electric grid and reducing emissions from the transportation sector,"
and expressed support for "policies to increase vehicle electrification
and reduce heat-trapping emissions from all cars and trucks."
"Finally, the legislation
includes a national clean energy standard that could be transformational if
designed well," he concluded. "A national clean energy standard must
not increase our reliance on natural gas generation, as natural gas use
economy-wide now contributes more to U.S. carbon emissions than coal. We will
continue to work towards enacting legislation consistent with the science and
that will provide a just and equitable transition to a clean energy
economy."
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