Sanders Introduces Bill to Cut Carbon Emissions 80 Percent

[HerbChestnut]

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/sanders-introduces-bill-to-cut-carbon-emissions-80-percent

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Expanding on his ambitious plan to combat climate change, Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced the Climate Protection and Justice Act today to establish a price on carbon pollution. The legislation would cut total emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, fund historic investments in energy efficiency and sustainable energy technologies, return billions of dollars to working families and protect the most vulnerable communities.

“What the scientists tell us is that we have a relatively short window of opportunity to bring about the fundamental changes that we need in our global energy system to transform our energy system,” Sanders said on the Senate floor today. “It is absolutely vital that we do what many economists tell us we must and that is put a price on carbon. It is the simplest and most direct way to make the kind of cuts in carbon pollution that we have got to make if we are going to successfully transition away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.”

Sanders’ legislation would return billions of dollars to working families to ensure that the fossil fuels industry doesn’t pass on unfair rate hikes. Eighty percent of revenue would be transferred from big polluters to the middle class.

The legislation creates a Climate Justice Resiliency Council, which will distribute $20 billion a year in block grants to areas disproportionately affected by climate change. The bill also sets aside $3 billion each year for energy efficiency investments for towns, cities and low-income families. Other aspects of the bill include: protections for the manufacturing sector from unfair international competition; roughly $1 billion in annual investments to reduce costs for the agricultural sector while also reducing pollution; and reforms to dramatically increase energy efficiency and improve resiliency of the electrical grid.

[Hekate]

1. Does it stand a snowball's chance in a warming world of getting anywhere? Good idea though....

How many others has he generated in the past? A whole bunch? Good for Bernie.

[elleng]

2. NEW CLIMATE LEADERSHIP.

A PLAN FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY

INCENTIVIZE THE PRODUCTION OF CLEAN ENERGY, NOT FOSSIL FUELS.

SUPPORT RURAL CLEAN ENERGY FINANCE.

PROVIDE A STRONG MARKET FOR BIOFUELS.

TRAIN WORKERS TO JOIN GROWING CLEAN ENERGY INDUSTRIES.

MODERNIZE OUR ELECTRIC GRID TO SUPPORT LOCALIZED, RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION.


https://martinomalley.com/climate/

[HerbChestnut]

3. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, Ellen. Your caps scared me.

[elleng]

4. Sorry, Herb,

copy/paste did it!

[Warren DeMontague]

5. K/R

[NurseJackie]

6. Just in the nick of time!

[raouldukelives]

7. K&R The "greatest generation" would have nothing on us.

No grey areas or carbon credits. Just straightforward choose to keep an ecosystem in place that allows us to have migratory birds, butterflies, salmon, coral reefs, forests, fresh water and farmland or choose to use it all up now for ourselves.

Choose to support Wall St & needless consumerism or choose to support wildlife and the idea of having an obligation to not only not make things worse, but to actually strive to make things better, for once.
.
Since it appears we will be amending the needs of the least among us through future austerity measures. The least we can do is allow them the ability to grow something to eat in the benefit free and ever more bleak future we are leaving them.

Talk about being remembered as the "Greatest Generation". The shared sacrifice of all of us can save the world in a way no war ever could and would certainly generate mountains of praise from those who could still enjoy birdsong and waterfalls tomorrow.

We can be heroes or we can be zeroes. At least we live in "interesting times".