Philadelphia, PA—PennEnvironment today applauded Senator Bob Casey for voting to advance the Climate Security Act (S. 3036), the most comprehensive global warming legislation ever considered by the full U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, by a vote of 48-36, the Senate fell short of the 60-vote threshold needed to move forward with the bill, causing consideration of the bill to end without any substantive votes on the measure. Pennsylvania's senior senator, Arlen Specter, was absent from today's vote, though he disappointingly submitted a public statement saying he would have voted against moving forward with the bill had he been present. An additional six senators, who also missed the vote, submitted statements indicating that they would have voted to move forward had they been present.
"With his vote, Senator Casey made it clear he understands that global warming needs to be tackled today, not tomorrow," said Nathan Willcox, Energy & Clean Air Advocate with PennEnvironment. "We applaud the senator for his vote, and urge him and the rest of Pennsylvania's federal delegation to continue pushing for federal solutions to global warming."
Scientists warn that if we don’t act quickly and boldly to reduce our emissions of global warming pollution, Pennsylvania, the United States and the world risk devastating damage to our environment, economy, and way of life.
PennEnvironment is urging lawmakers in Harrisburg and Washington, DC to enact policies that will achieve the emission reductions science tells us are necessary, make polluters pay for their pollution, and aggressively promote the energy efficiency and renewable energy infrastructure that will enable us to transition to a clean energy economy.
With this setback at the federal level, PennEnvironment again called on Gov. Rendell and state leaders to adopt a state-level global warming plan for Pennsylvania. Currently, the Commonwealth produces more global warming pollution than every state besides Texas and California.
"While Washington has proved incapable thus far of enacting a federal global warming policy, states across the country are leading the way by enacting state-level global warming plans," said Willcox. "Given that Pennsylvania emits the third highest levels of global warming pollution in the country, Gov. Rendell and the state's leaders need to make Pennsylvania the next state to adopt a state-level plan."
Willcox also cautioned that the push for a federal global warming plan was only just beginning.
“Next time around, the polluters and their allies in Congress won’t get off so easy," said Willcox. "In the weeks and months ahead, we’ll educate and mobilize Pennsylvanians on the urgent need for action to stop the worst effects of global warming, helping to pave the way for stronger federal legislation next year that will get the job done."
