House Primed for Floor Vote on Energy Bill

The American Clean Energy
and Security Act (ACES) is primed for a
House floor vote by the end of the week. Congressional momentum on
the vital bill comes in the wake of a landmark
inter-agency report on global warming and its immediate and future consequences.

The legislation, which was recently approved
by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, will establish a new
energy policy in the United States that avoids continuing dependence on foreign
oil and establishes a new domestic clean technology manufacturing base to
supply wind, solar, and other renewable energy.

The necessity of the bill
was highlighted last week, when the U.S. Global
Change Research Program released a sweeping analysis of the impacts
already happening due to unchecked global warming. Among them: increased
downpours, hotter temperatures, and rising sea levels.

According to Larry
Schweiger, president and CEO of National Wildlife Federation, the findings act
as a broad call to arms for concerned citizens and legislators.

"If we had an enemy
threatening public health, damaging our water supplies, limiting our water and
food supplies, and wreaking havoc on our coastal communities, there is no
question we would demand our very best effort to fight back this enemy,"
Schweiger said. "Like Paul Revere, this report is shouting that the enemy
is at our doorstep. The enemy is climate change."

NOAA head Jane Lubchenco called the report
"a game-changer" for its confirmation that the effects of
global warming are neither minor nor remote. White House Office of Science and
Technology Policy Director John Holdren echoed the need for immediate action,
adding "one has to hope it will influence how people think about
particular legislative proposals."

The National
Wildlife Federation's just-released ACES Toolbox analyzes the bill
in terms of what is needed to build the clean energy economy and confront the
climate crisis.