If not now, when?
From power house businesses like Nike and Weyerhaeuser, to the Outdoor Industry Association, which represents large outdoor retailers like REI and The North Face to farmers, guides, and clean energy companies, businesses are urging the region's Senators to pass comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation, including a cap on carbon.
Beth Doglio, Campaign Director, Climate Solutions
That’s the question being asked by hundreds of northwest businesses, employing tens of thousands of people in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.
From power house businesses like Nike and Weyerhaeuser, to the Outdoor Industry Association, which represents large outdoor retailers like REI and The North Face to farmers, guides, and clean energy companies, businesses are urging the region's Senators to pass comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation, including a cap on carbon.
It’s well past time, they say, to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce the pollution that causes global warming and leaves us vulnerable to more tragedies like the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
A recent report by American Business for Clean Energy estimates that more than 6,000 large and small businesses across the United States are now calling on Congress to enact clean energy and climate legislation. In the Northwest region, 874 companies employing over 258,000 people support clean energy and climate legislation. See the report summarizing the strong support from businesses in the NW and across the nation here, as well as summaries for Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho.
The public is joining business leaders in urging action now. New statewide polls in Oregon and Washington show strong public support for clean energy and climate legislation. The polls, conducted by Public Policy Polling on behalf of Clean Energy Works, show Washington voters supporting the legislation by a 13 point margin -- 54 percent support to 41 percent opposed. Support is even stronger in Oregon, where voters support the legislation 57 percent to 39 percent opposed. The polling confirms that voters in both states agree that the tragic disaster in the Gulf of Mexico provides a strong reminder of the need to move to clean energy now.
The new jobs in clean energy industries that passage of the bill would generate enjoys strong bi-partisan support as well: 70 percent in Washington and 75 percent in Oregon.
More information on the polls and the breadth of business support for action on clean energy and climate are available here.
A number of business leaders across the region spoke to the pressing need act quickly in passing clean energy and climate legislation including, Sarah A. Severn, Director of Stakeholder Mobilization for Nike, Inc., Sara Kendall, Vice President for Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability at Weyerhaeuser Company, Denny Gignoux, owner and guide at Glacier Wilderness Guides at Glacier National Park, Arlo Skari farmer north of Chester, Montana Amy Roberts, Vice President of Government Affairs for Outdoor Industry Association, Clay Young, co-founder and CEO of Inovus Solar in Boise and Ross Macfarlane, Senior Advisor for Business Partnerships at Climate Solutions.
