Climate change legislation is on the move in Congress. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454), also known as the Waxman-Markey bill, will most likely be brought up for a vote in the House on Friday. This according to a conference call I was on last night with VP Al Gore (as I'm sure many of you were).
This is an extremely important bill, as for the first time the U.S. will attempt to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we produce each year. The bill implements a cap-and-trade policy intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 83% by 2050. It mandates a federal renewable energy standard, calling for a 20 percent renewable energy and energy efficiency standard by 2020. It also requires utilities to obtain 15 percent of their power from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power and also demonstrate annual electricity savings of 5 percent through energy efficiency measures.
While the bill has its detractors, Al Gore, the Sierra Club and numerous other environmental organizations support the bill as they recognize it as the first step in the winner-take-all fight against global warming. However the vote is supposed to be very close, and we need to make sure that it passes.
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