America's clean-energy revolution hits a big roadblock

For immediate release
Contact:  Ross Macfarlane Cell: (206) 913-9800

Statement of K.C. Golden, Policy Director, Climate Solutions

America’s clean energy revolution hit a big roadblock today, as coal and oil lobbies once again stalled Congressional action.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid – clearly frustrated and disappointed – announced that the forthcoming Senate debate will focus more narrowly on oil spill response, missing an historic opportunity to get serious about climate and clean energy solutions.  

Liability reform and better drilling regulations are obviously needed and overdue, but they will address the symptoms, not the root cause of the disaster in the Gulf.  Too few of our leaders are ready to stand up to the power of coal and oil and deliver real change.

So tomorrow and every day until Congress delivers a comprehensive climate and energy policy, America will fall further behind in the competition for global economic leadership.  American businesses – so many of them ready and eager to innovate and invest in the new energy economy – will continue to be undermined by the lack of a clear, predictable public policy commitment.  The flow of oil into the Gulf has finally abated, but the flow of carbon into our atmosphere and oceans continues, as does the hemorrhaging of dollars and jobs out of our communities to prolong our fossil fuel addiction.  The climate crisis deepens.

Americans across the political spectrum are hungry for a new energy strategy, eager to regain control of our future.  We are struggling to build a new energy economy now, against the tide of public policies shaped primarily by the coal and oil industries who profit from fossil fuel dependence.  We won’t rest until our leaders help us rise to the challenge of building a strong new energy economy that delivers real climate solutions.