Engaging with Congress on Climate Change Solutions

EESI’s work to engage policymakers on the Clean Power Plan continues to move forward in 2015 thanks to YOU!

Thanks to your generosity, you are helping EESI move our nation forward with reducing carbon emission levels, improving energy efficiency, and advancing clean and sustainable energy. Approximately one year ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft of the Clean Power Plan, the largest near-term opportunity to reduce carbon and achieve critical climate goals! Your support helped EESI spring into action to engage with policymakers about this important opportunity.

You can help us keep up a strong drumbeat to engage policymakers on these high-stakes issues and the Clean Power Plan during Global Giving Bonus Day! Starting next week on Wednesday, July 15, Global Giving will be generously matching gifts of up to $1,000 made on the Global Giving platform with a special 50% bonus because YOUR support has made us one of Global Giving’s best partners, qualifying us for higher rewards. Global Giving is making a pool of $115,000 in matching gifts and prizes available. You can help us win a prize if we raise the most money or receive the greatest number of gifts on that day! All gifts from $10 up to $1,000 qualify for bonus matching funds—while funds remain. The Bonus Day starts at 9am EDT on the 15^th, so mark your calendar now!

The Clean Power Plan is a great opportunity for carbon mitigation, but there is some confusion among policymakers and key stakeholders over the complexities and details of the proposed regulation and how it will affect renewable energy, electricity prices, and state economies across the United States. EESI has aimed to address these concerns through informative, fact-filled public briefings on Capitol Hill so that policymakers, the media, and key stakeholders can understand the Clean Power Plan’s great opportunity for advancing clean energy!

Thanks to your dedication, last month EESI held a packed briefing and live webcast called “How Can States Comply with the Clean Power Plan?” At this event, the National Association of Clean Air Agencies’ Executive Director Bill Becker emphasized the options and flexibility states have to address carbon emissions based on their specific needs and target levels.

In another briefing on the Clean Power Plan that you helped make possible, EESI brought together top experts to look at legal challenges to the Clean Power Plan. Michael Burger of Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law advised EESI’s audience that the EPA is authorized to require carbon reductions under the Clean Air Act.

With your renewed Global Giving support, you can help EESI help policymakers and the public understand the benefits for our health and our climate of implementing the Clean Power Plan. You’re also helping us showcase the many options states have for moving forward. 

Ultimately, the success of the Clean Power Plan will play an important role in getting the U.S. to fulfill its pledge to address climate change by reducing carbon emissions by at least 25% by 2025, as part of the run-up to the United Nations climate negotiations in Paris this December.

Thanks to your Global Giving gifts, you are helping your country provide for healthier societies, away from polluting fossil fuels, and towards sustainable energy. Here at EESI, we deeply appreciate your support for sustainable energy and engagement with Congress through your gifts on Global Giving and hope that you will renew that support on Global Giving Bonus Day, Wednesday, July 15^th. Thank you so very much.

Links:

• Stay informed! Join our mailing list.
• Learn more about EESI's work on the Clean Power Plan
• Get involved!

Nobody likes to be trapped in bad traffic, on pothole-ridden roads, with no other means of transportation for going where they want to go. Yet too often that is the reality for a considerable number of Americans. Two-thirds of our citizens lack access to public transportation and nearly half of the roads in the United States are in poor condition. With the most recent extension of the transportation bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century (MAP-21), set to expire this May, there is an urgent need for a new bill to provide long-term financing for the launch of multiyear transportation projects.

More and more Americans want access to transportation choices such as bikes, buses, and trains. The first step in making sure these improvements are funded in the new transportation bill is to inform Congressional staff and other key stakeholders on the issues at hand.

You are helping EESI draw attention to this issue through your continued Global Giving support. For example, in a briefing on April 9 that you helped support called “Stand Up for Transportation” speakers addressed the impacts that would be incurred with the loss of federal funding for transit, as is currently proposed by The Drive Act of 2015 and The Highway Restoration Act of 2015. Speakers also addressed how 70 percent of federal transit investments would result in private-sector jobs and boost both the local and national economy. Your gift to EESI helps us collect information to take to Capitol Hill and reach out to the policy community.

Thanks to your support, EESI, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) highlighted these critical transportation issues and solutions in a March 10^th briefing.

With a series of briefings, you’ve helped shine a light on what Congress needs to do to fix America’s transportation system – especially the need to increase the availability of public transportation options. When the highway association and the public transportation association got together to write a report on the nation's transportation needs, they found that roughly $163 billion would be needed over each of the next six years - 63 percent more than the $100 billion a year that is currently being invested by the public sector. In the March 10^th briefing you helped inform policymakers on the findings of the report.

These investments would make your transportation safer, faster, and provide more mobility options. Better transportation means better access to jobs and other opportunities. An increase in public transit investment, in particular, would reduce roadway congestion, further improving access. This increased investment in transportation would ultimately strengthen the economy and the environment in both the short and long terms.

Thanks so much for your support through Global Giving and for helping make a difference in our nation’s transportation-related challenges!

Links:

• You can get involved!
• The Transportation Clock is Ticking - Briefing Summary and Video
• Like us on Facebook for energy and environment news!