It’s Undeniable: U.S. Chamber and Climate Deniers Share Warm Relationship
We all know that the Chamber of Commerce comes down on the wrong side of just about every issue that matters for working families. But here’s a staggering statistic to show you just how far out of the mainstream the Chamber swims.
In the 2010 midterm elections, the Chamber spent $32 million to elect their anointed candidates and 94 percent of that money went to candidates who are “climate deniers,” the people who think global warming, greenhouse gases and climate change are a left-wing plot. “I don’t need no stinking scientist to tell me about climate change, I’ve got Glenn Beck.”
This little nutty nugget comes from our friends at The U.S. Chamber Doesn’t Speak for Me, who point out that there actually is a method in the Chamber’s madness in funneling money to politicians who are certainly no friends of the earth.
Out of the 118 [Chamber] board members, at least 49 represent companies tied to fossil fuel use: oil, gas and coal, and related companies….Throughout its history, the Chamber has taken an anti-environmental stance, fighting to weaken clean air standards, opposing a hazardous waste dumping ban, working to diminish the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and lobbying against any national action on climate change.
Bad Climate Change Bill Could Cost 4 Million U.S. Jobs
Industries supporting more than 4 million U.S. jobs could be at risk unless lawmakers include strong provisions in climate change legislation to keep energy-intensive, trade-sensitive manufacturers competitive.
A new report says the legislation should include a system of rebates and allowances to help U.S. companies make the transition to lower carbon emissions and a tariff system, or border adjustments, to penalize countries that fail to regulate greenhouse gases in the production of goods.
The report, “Climate Change Policy,” released today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), says a well-designed climate policy can support the economic recovery and green investments can support millions of new jobs, starting with the creation of more than 1 million jobs in the next two years. Click here to read the report.
Union Sportsmen: Dedicated Funding Needed to Safeguard Fish and Wildlife
 |
|
Union sportsmen see firsthand how climate change has harmed the woods, streams and lakes, even as the rest of us are aware of the planet heating up from reports of shrinking ice shelves to holes in the Earth’s ozone layer.
In a letter to congressional leaders from 20 of the unions in the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) and the Union Sportsmen Alliance (USA), the unions write:
Union sportsmen do not need to read reports in the press to know climate change is already affecting the ways they pursue game and fish, the success of their days afield and the timing of their hunting and fishing trips.
The 20 unions urge the leaders of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to include dedicated funding to safeguard fish, wildlife and ecosystems important to sportsmen be in Senate climate change legislation.
Cap and Trade Bill: Good First Step
 |
|
The U.S. Congress took a step forward toward a national policy that helps clean up the environment and create good green jobs, but there is still work to do, union leaders say today.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act, which passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday, would set a national ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions and let polluting industries buy and sell credits to meet it. This “cap-and-trade” system would limit harmful human-generated emissions and, hopefully, speed up development of renewable energy sources, create green jobs and help reduce our dependence on oil.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says the bill, as currently marked up, “makes significant, job-creating investments, while attempting to minimize impacts on existing workers.”
The AFL-CIO supports cap-and-trade legislation that takes a balanced approach towards an economy wide-program and prevents foreign competitors from getting advantages over American companies.
Blue Green Alliance Reaches Historic Agreement on Climate Legislation
 |
|
The Blue Green Alliance, a partnership of four unions and two environmental organizations, today announced support for comprehensive climate change legislation. The legislation is an effective way to rapidly put millions of Americans back to work building a clean energy economy and to reduce global warming emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
The alliance called for a reduction of U.S. carbon emissions by at least 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050 and is supporting a renewed U.S. effort to forge a global treaty to reduce worldwide emissions by 50 percent by that same date. To meet these goals, domestic climate change legislation should reduce U.S. emissions significantly below 2005 levels by 2020, with individual partners advocating targets ranging from 14 percent to 25 percent.
