Campaign Heats up to Pass Global Warming Bills

Sacramento and Los Angeles (August 16, 2006) – Environmental Defense and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) began airing ads in English and Spanish in Sacramento and Los Angeles urging viewers to call their lawmakers as the debate in Sacramento heats up over global warming legislation during the last two weeks of the state legislative session. The spots describe global warming risks to California, and feature an hour glass to illustrate that time is running out for lawmakers to address the problem.
 
The new ads can be viewed at www.solutionsforglobalwarming.com
 
“California has too much to lose to let this opportunity to tackle global warming pass, and too much to gain by using clean energy to cut emissions,” said Ann Notthoff, California advocacy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “AB 32 and SB 1368 will limit global warming pollutants in California and from energy that we buy outside the state, but time is running out with only two weeks before the legislative session ends.”
 
Global warming threatens California with reduced water storage in the Sierra snow pack, an increased risk of wildfires, growing threats to public health from air pollution and heat stroke, erosion along our famous coastline, and diminishing returns from our vineyards, livestock and agricultural industries. Time is running out to minimize these increasingly visible threats. The ads echo this sense of urgency.
 
Environmental Defense and NRDC are cosponsors of AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblymember Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills). The bill would make California the first state in the nation to set a statewide limit on the emission of global warming pollutants. The legislation enjoys broad support with more than 50 cosponsors in the California Senate and Assembly.
 
Despite the broad support, and clear public interest in reducing global warming pollution the bills are opposed by the pollution lobby of oil and coal companies under the banner of SEECalifornia (www.seeca.org).
 
“The pollution industry is airing nonsensical radio ads that try to convince people that this bill will break their budgets and hurt the environment. We’re used to them crying wolf about phony economic impacts, but we have to admit it caught us off guard that now they claim to be stronger environmental advocates than us,” said Jim Marston, director of state climate initiatives for Environmental Defense. “Californians want state action on limiting global warming pollution, and AB 32 and SB 1368 deliver that.”
 
According to a recent Public Policy Institute of California survey, 66 percent of likely voters support the proposed legislation to reduce California’s global warming emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Nearly 8 in 10 say global warming is a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” threat to the state’s economy and quality of life. The sense of urgency is so strong that voters want their elected officials in Sacramento to act independently of Washington. In fact, more than half (54 percent) believe the federal government is on the wrong track when it comes to global warming. (The survey is available at http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=699)
 
“Californians want to lead the world in solving global warming,” said Ann Notthoff, California advocacy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “The Global Warming Solutions Act will build on California’s world leadership in clean air and clean energy solutions. By reducing our emissions of heat-trapping pollution we can help avert the catastrophic effects of global warming, break our addiction to fossil fuels, and jump start a clean energy boom in the state’s economy.”
 
Background
 
Assembly Bill 32 – The Global Warming Solutions Act – by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblymember Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) would set the nation’s first statewide limit on emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases that cause global warming. It would require a 25 percent reduction in global warming pollution by the year 2020 compared to business as usual. It would require state agencies to coordinate investments and programs to reduce global warming pollution, and to promote economic growth by encouraging the deployment of emissions reduction technologies.
 
AB 32 is part of a package of bills that will reduce global warming pollution and put California on the path to a new energy economy. Other bills in the Legislature include: Senate Bill 1368 (Perata), which will require any new commitments to electric generation serving California to meet a minimum standard in terms of global warming emission levels; SB 1250 (Perata) to authorize continuing state investments in renewable energy and research and development; and AB 2021 (Levine) to ensure that all electric utilities maximize cost-effective energy efficiency.
 
More information about global warming impacts and legislation in California is available at www.solutionsforglobalwarming.org.

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