Jane Harman Will Vote Yes on Climate Change Bill While Holding Her Nose

I’ve been getting email after email from my friends at RePower America, MoveOn, League of Conservation Voters, the Apollo Alliance, Green Jobs for All and other smart, Green groups urging me to call my Congresswoman, Jane Harman to lobby her to vote for the historic climate change bill today in the House.

RePower America tells me Harman is wavering – but that’s not true.

Jane Harman feels exactly as I do.  This climate bill is an essential first step.  It’s been weakened and dumbed down by carbon-loving Democrats and the entire Republican Party and it’s not the bill it should be.  But it’s far better than no bill or the homage to fossil fuels the GOP has embraced like the sellouts and carbon collaborators they are.

So don’t waste your time calling Jane Harman’s office because she already gets it.  You’d be better off calling any Republican voting against this bill and telling them you will hold them personally responsible for the damage climate change does to your children and your grandchildren.  Tell them you know that they’re in the pocket of big oil and coal and that no amount of money and power they’ve gotten for their vote is worth the shameless pro carbon response they’ve clung to.

Big Greenius Thanks to Diane Moss, Jane Harman’s Environmental Deputy, for setting the record straight on this.  I met with Diane in her office last week and she’s been incredibly responsive and on top of the issues.  Looking forward to writing more about her but meanwhile –

Here’s the press release from Harman’s office:           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Max Weihe (202) 225-2156

June 26, 2009

HARMAN EXPRESSES LUKEWARM SUPPORT FOR ACES ACT

~ Says “many troubling changes and compromises were made” ~

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA), a senior member of the Energy & Commerce Committee, issued the following statement on the American Clean Energy & Security Act of 2009:

Let me be crystal clear:  the bill we are voting on today – and which I will support – falls far short of what could and must be achieved if we are to get our arms around greenhouse gas emissions, promote green jobs and innovation, and demonstrate leadership to the rest of the world.

My Committee colleagues Chairman Henry Waxman and Subcommittee Chair Ed Markey have worked tirelessly to craft legislation that makes progress on climate change goals and creates a system to cap and trade carbon emissions.

And believe me, as a mother of four, I understand that perfection is not an option.  But in assembling a bill that will garner enough votes to pass, many troubling changes and compromises were made.

I am particularly disappointed that a bipartisan provision on which I labored to boost outdoor lighting efficiency by 25% by 2010 was gutted in the course of trading for votes.  Not only would this provision have cut the country’s annual electricity bill by $1 billion, the changes made to it pose serious preemption challenges to bellwether states like California, which are consistently on the cutting-edge of environmental policy.

Trolling for votes also resulted in the dilution of an extremely important provision on green buildings and a weakened renewable fuels standard.

While passing the American Clean Energy & Security Act of 2009 is better than doing nothing, I consider this bill nothing more than a first step.

###

The Greenius abides.  Jane Harman is 100% right about this bill.  Many of us are already working on steps 2, 3, 4 and 5.  But we won’t get there unless we reach step one.