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Hope for global warming solutions
Courts and Congress on the move
In recent months, a pair of court decisions, coupled with action on Capitol Hill, has raised hopes for progress on global warming.
The Clean Car Program
Environment North Carolina applauded the court decisions (a district court decision in Vermont in September and a U.S. Supreme Court decision in April), which put pressure on the EPA to allow states to adopt Clean Cars programs.
North Carolina lawmakers, Rep. Pricey Harrison and Sen. Dan Clodfelter, have filed legislation, to make North Carolina the latest state to adopt strict tailpipe emission standards.
Working with other members of Environment America, our federation of state-based environment groups, we’ve helped convince 15 states to adopt the program, pending EPA approval. In September, the governors of 13 states sent letters to the CEOs of General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda and Nissan. The letters affirmed the governors’ commitment to forge ahead with their Clean Car programs and urged the companies to drop any legal challenges.
The Safe Climate Act
Over the past year, we’ve also urged members of our state’s congressional delegation to support the Safe Climate Act. The bill would cut the nation’s global warming pollution 80 percent by 2050, a change most scientists agree is necessary to avert catastrophic climate change.
So far, only Rep. Heath Shuler has joined 142 other members of Congress in agreeing to co-sponsor the legislation.
In October, we helped shape the debate over the bill with the release of a study called “Cleaner, Cheaper, Smarter.” Under any pollution cap-and-trade program, emissions would be capped, but polluting companies would still be allowed to emit some carbon in to the air or sell their allowances to other firms. We think companies should pay for their allowances. Billions of dollars could be at stake: dollars that could pad energy company profits or help move America toward a new energy future.
More than 100 leaders and organizations signed onto the report’s recommendations.
Under the Clean Cars Program, new vehicles would pollute 25 percent less in model year 2009.
