On his first day as president, Barack Obama can make some decisions on his own without Congressional approval. Environmental groups like the Sierra Club are urging the administration to put into action a four-pronged plan to jump-start a move toward cleaner energy and reduced global warming pollution.
Environmentalists agree — Obama should:
- quash the push for new coal plants by having the Environmental Protection Agency put a tight cap on global warming emissions from all new power plants
- direct the EPA to approve current plans from 18 states that require cleaner cars
- curb mountaintop removal coal mining with tighter EPA regulations for dumping rock and waste into neighboring valleys and waterways.
- publicly commit to cut U.S. CO2 emissions at least 35 percent by 2020.
Take Obama’s challenge now, get involved in helping him make U.S. policy. You can ask him to adopt these or at least show you care about protecting our environment by clicking here to send the upcoming administration a letter.
It will also show that you understand that coal mining is actually NOT the answer to our energy problems. In reality, coal contributes to serious health conditions like asthma and lung cancer; it produces smog, mercury emissions and tons of CO2; and it causes waste problems like those listed above including polluting nearby valleys and streams. Google it—think the black lung in Zoolander. How can that be a better answer than solar or wind energy?
great post. I blog about this stuff regularly