Philadelphia, PA—PennEnvironment applauded Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, Jr. for announcing today that he would be signing on as a cosponsor of the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act, the most aggressive and comprehensive legislation being considered by the U.S. Senate to fight global warming. The Act would limit global warming pollution to levels that current science says are needed to prevent the worst effects of global warming, and could be debated in the Senate as soon as this fall. At the same time, PennEnvironment made it clear that a second, weaker global warming bill that Sen. Casey announced support for today is not nearly strong enough to tackle the global warming problem.
“PennEnvironment commends Senator Casey for showing leadership on the global warming issue by supporting the strongest legislation being considered to cut global warming pollution,” said Nathan Willcox, Energy & Clean Air Advocate for PennEnvironment. “Global warming poses an enormous threat to Pennsylvania’s future, but we have many solutions at our finger tips to reduce global warming pollution and at the same time make our state and country stronger.”
The world’s leading scientific institutions have long been united in recognizing the grave threat posed by human-caused global warming, a fact underscored by this year’s reports by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which called the evidence that global warming is occurring “unequivocal.”
Now, many scientists are also warning that time is running out to prevent the worst effects of global warming. NASA’s chief climatologist, Dr. James Hansen, has said that we must begin to reduce global warming pollution within 10 years or risk climate change that would result in “practically a different planet.”
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) estimates that unchecked global warming could result in Pennsylvania’s climate resembling that of present-day Alabama and Georgia by the end of the century. UCS estimated that such a change could have a variety of negative impacts on Pennsylvania, ranging from a 20 percent drop in milk production due to heat stress on Pennsylvania dairy cattle, to more unhealthy air days, to the loss of sufficient winter weather for the state's ski industry.
The Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act (S.309) would reduce total U.S. global warming pollution to 1990 levels by 2020 (a 15% reduction from today’s levels) and to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. These are the science-based reductions needed to protect future generations. To achieve these pollution reductions, the bill calls for a greater reliance on clean, renewable energy and improved energy efficiency. A PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center report (“Rising to the Challenge”) released last year outlined how clean energy solutions could achieve a 20 percent cut in global warming pollution nationally.
“Energy efficiency and renewable energy are common sense solutions that are already taking hold in Pennsylvania, and the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act would put these solutions to use,” said Willcox. “In addition to cutting global warming pollution, these clean technologies will reduce our dependence on oil and other dirty fossil fuels.”
Senator Casey also announced today that he would be cosponsoring much weaker global warming legislation, the Low Carbon Economy Act (S.1766). Unfortunately, this bill fails to deliver the pollution reductions science shows are needed in the next 10 years to stave off the most dangerous impacts of global warming for future generations. PennEnvironment made it clear that science-based pollution reduction targets need to be part of any global warming legislation, and therefore the Low Carbon Economy Act should not be the legislation through which the Senate addresses the global warming issue.
"The science demands ambitious goals, and meeting these goals won’t be easy," said Willcox. "But they are the minimum acceptable response to the threat posed by global warming. To protect Pennsylvania's environment, our economy, and future generations, we can’t settle for less.”
