Sierra Club of Hawaii’s Statement on President Obama’s Climate Plan
Washington, D.C. – Today President Barack Obama announced his administration’s next steps for building a legacy of action to fight the climate crisis. The plan includes new energy efficiency standards for federal buildings and appliances, scales up responsible clean energy production on public lands with an ambitious new commitment to power 6 million homes by 2020, and uses the full authority of the Clean Air Act to cut dangerous carbon pollution from power plants.
Sierra Club of Hawaii Director Robert D. Harris released the following statement in response:
“This is the change Americans have been waiting for on climate.
President Obama is finally putting action behind his words, which is exactly what the Sierra Club, our 2.1 million members and supporters, and coalition partners have worked mightily to achieve. Today, we applaud him for taking a solid step forward towards meeting that goal.
By committing to establish new energy efficiency standards for federal buildings and appliances, scale up responsible clean energy production on public lands with an ambitious new goal to power 6 million homes by 2020, and use the full authority of the Clean Air Act to cut dangerous carbon pollution from power plants, the President is stepping up to reduce the climate-disrupting pollution that is destabilizing our climate while threatening our economy and endangering our communities and families with extreme weather and dramatic sea level increases.
By regulating dangerous carbon emissions, President Obama is backstopping Hawaii’s commitment to clean energy by ensuring our dirtiest power plants are either cleaned up or shut down. This creates a space for more clean energy adoption, such as on Maui where inexpensive renewable energy is currently wasted so MECO can keep its existing fossil fuel fleet operating. Hawaii has too many power plants, such as the Pu’unene coal-burning facility, that are relics of another time that must be cleaned up and brought into the 21st century.
The President’s plan gives us hope he will cement his climate legacy and protect future generations by ending destructive oil drilling in the Arctic, rejecting dangerous nukes, halting mountaintop removal, abandoning dirty fossil fuels in favor of clean energy – and by making the critically important decision to reject the dirty and dangerous Keystone XL pipeline.”
Sierra Club of Hawaii
Founded in 1968, the Sierra Club of Hawaii is the state’s largest and most active grassroots environmental organization. The Club actively promotes reducing the impacts of global climate change by encouraging the development of clean renewable energy, reducing the use of fossil fuels, and ensuring our fragile native habitat is protected from harm. www.sierraclubhawaii.org
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