Past Campaigns

Repower America

The first and most important issue that we’re taking on is making sure that America’s economic recovery is based on renewable energy technologies. Environmental issues received unprecedented attention in one of the hardest fought elections in U.S. history. This election pitted the energy policy of last 30 years against that of the next 30 years. Senator McCain focused on the oil, coal and nuclear plants of the past, while President-Elect Obama called for a new energy economy fueled by renewable energy such as wind and solar, investments in clean technologies of the future and 5 million new jobs.

From President-Elect Obama on down the ballot, the candidates who won were talking about a clean energy future, and voters understood that this was the key to a stronger economy, a more secure world and the solution to global warming. Two-thirds of the new members of the House and Senate come from states that have state renewable energy laws already.

We are running out of time to solve global warming. The solutions must be bold. Overall, we need to repower America with 100% clean energy, refuel America by cutting our oil dependence in half and rebuild America by creating 5 million new jobs through investment in renewable energy.

Most immediately, the goal of the Renewing America Campaign is to win clean energy victories, such as ensuring that clean energy is a cornerstone of any economic recovery package and of the President’s budget. Specifically, we will build support for a set of clean energy investment policies to extend clean energy tax credits and provide billions in investment for wind, solar, energy efficiency, public transit, and developing the clean energy workforce. These will begin the shift to a clean energy economy, create jobs, reduce pollution and help lay the groundwork to pass a comprehensive new energy and global warming plan for America.

Our job over the next few months will be to make sure members of Congress fulfill their election promises and support Obama’s plans even in the face of opposition.

Clean Energy, Green Economy

Despite overwhelming public support and the obvious benefits to our environment and our economy, government has provided very limited resources to clean energy programs.  Our federal government’s policy of lavishing heavy subsidies on the fossil fuel industry at the expense of clean and renewable energy has gone on for far too long.  It’s time to chart a smart, sustainable, and forward thinking path for our energy future.  Energy efficiency is the cheapest and simplest way to cut back on our global warming pollution and to keep dollars in our local economies.  And, investing in renewable energy creates more jobs per dollar spent than dirtier energy sources like coal and nuclear power. 

We have four campaign priorities this summer:

1. Renewable Energy Tax Incentives: The wind energy industry has been in a steep boom and bust pattern for the past 10 years due to two-year tax incentives with delayed extensions, sometimes with nearly a year before reinstatement.  These essential incentives are set to expire again at the end of this year and so far have failed 3 times in the Senate by one vote.

2. Global Warming Solutions: It is critical that as the Senate moves forward on any global warming legislation that they are sure to invest significantly in clean energy programs if they expect to achieve enough emissions reductions.  We will be working this summer to ensure that the billions of dollars raised from global warming polluters under a cap and trade system goes towards a massive investment in clean energy programs in this country.

3. Clean and Green Government: the government disburses billions of dollars a year towards local and state agencies for everything from school funding to community programs.  There are 13 appropriations bills Congress will review this year and we expect 3-4 of them to be changed in a significant way.  Whether or not funding from these bills goes toward clean energy solutions is very much up for debate.   

4. Federal Renewable Energy Standard: Environment America is calling on lawmakers to support policies to get 25 percent of our nation’s energy from clean, renewable sources by 2025. The most important step toward achieving this goal is a requirement that at least 20 percent of our electricity come from renewable sources.  

Save the Grand Canyon

Mining companies know that it’s against the law to set up operations in the Grand Canyon, or any national park for that matter. Yet, incredibly, the law does allow them to mine the land right next door to our national parks. Now, with the price of gold rising and demand for uranium growing, the mining industry is hoping to take advantage of the last year of the industry-friendly Bush administration, filing claims close enough to the Grand Canyon to threaten one of the worlds’ greatest natural treasures. 

In the last five years, mining companies have expressed the desire to mine on 800 claims within five miles of the Grand Canyon—close enough that the cyanide and other toxic chemicals they use to separate ore from rock could run off into the streams that feed the Colorado River and the trails and wild lands that surround it. According to the EPA, mining waste has polluted 40 percent of the watersheds that provide Western communities with drinking water.

Environment America is working to make sure that visionary protections for national parks become a reality by asking the Senate to follow the lead of the House and include strong protections for our national parks in their version of the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act.

To sign a petition asking your Senator to Save the Grand Canyon from toxic mining pollution, click here.