U.S. Senate Vote Demonstrates Momentum toward National Limit on Global Warming Pollution

WASHINGTON (June 6, 2008) – 54 U.S.Senators demonstrated their support for comprehensive global warming legislation today, moving the United States a step closer to enacting a firm limit on global warming pollution with an accompanying market that rewards smart companies for making real reductions, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
 
"The Climate Security Act made history as the first comprehensive stand-alone global warming bill to reach the Senate floor,” said Frances Beinecke, president of NRDC. “Unfortunately, allies of Big Oil and Big Coal used parliamentary tricks to obstruct progress toward building the clean energy future we need to free ourselves from these special interests and avert the worst consequences of global warming.”

President Bush promised to veto the Climate Security Act, but the 2008 presidential candidates have made it clear that advancing global warming solutions will be a priority for the next administration.

“Once we have a new president who shows real leadership on global warming, defenders of the status quo will no longer be able to thwart the public’s desire for change, as they did today,” said Beinecke.

“The American people are tired of political stunts that do nothing to reduce their energy bills,” said Karen Wayland, Ph.D., NRDC’s legislative director. “The Climate Security Act would break our addiction to Persian Gulf oil once and for all.”

“Solving global warming will require a substantial shift in investments from the dirty, insecure energy sources of the past to the clean, sustainable energy sources of the 21st Century,” said Daniel Lashof, Ph.D., director of NRDC’s Climate Center. “That investment will have a huge payoff, both in reduced costs from global warming impacts and in green jobs insulating homes, building wind turbines, and producing clean fuels.”

Comprehensive background on the Climate Security Act is available at http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/liebwarner.asp, including analyses which show that:

 
-- The cost of doing nothing to stop global warming is far greater than acting now. A NRDC-commissioned report released on May 22, 2008 by researchers at Tufts University (http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/cost/contents.asp) presents two ways of estimating the costs of inaction on climate change, both leading to staggering bottom lines of between 1.8 and 3.6 percent of GDP by 2100. 
-- Dealing with global warming will lead to economic opportunities. An analysis released on May 14, 2008 (http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/factsheets/leg_08051401A.pdf) demonstrates that meeting global warming pollution reduction targets in the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act will reduce oil imports, increase clean energy production, and lead to dramatically more fuel-efficient vehicles.

-- Workers at every skill level will be in high demand and enjoy greater job security in key industries essential to building a clean-energy economy in America and fighting global warming (http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/jobs/index.asp
All credible forecasts show that the U.S. economy would grow robustly under the Climate Security Act (http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/factsheets/leg_08060201A.pdf)