Obama, Congress Help Move America Toward Comprehensive Climate Action

(National Wildlife Federation)

In his January 20 inaugural speech, President Obama outlined the need to “roll back the specter of a warming planet” and he plans to work with Congress to pass comprehensive legislation to invest in alternative and renewable energy, end our addiction to foreign oil, address the global climate crisis and create millions of new jobs.

The Obama-Biden comprehensive New Energy for America plan will:

·    Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.

·    Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.

·    Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars on the road by 2015, cars that are built here in America.

·    Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.

To read more about the New Energy for America plan, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/energy_and_environment/

In the legislative branch, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi issued a statement detailing a timeline to pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation out of the Energy and Commerce Committee by Memorial Day. Speaking to reporters last week, Pelosi said she intends to have a climate bill passed before the UN-sponsored summit in December. Pelosi says she intends to schedule a vote on a climate bill before December 2009, when world leaders will meet in Copenhagen for the UN Climate Conference to reach a global agreement on how to deal with climate change.

"We can't fix it all overnight," Pelosi told the San Francisco Chronicle, "but we have to begin."  Henry Waxman (D-CA), whose Energy and Commerce Committee is likely to lead House action on climate legislation, said last week that he intends to have a climate bill ready by Memorial Day.