Spread the word about the energy bill?

The New York Times just issued a call to stop the attack on the Clean Air Act. Can you bring that message to The Daily News by writing a letter to the editor about the need to fix the energy bill? Click Here

Dear MoveOn member,

Last week we had a big breakthrough in the fight for clean energy, and we need your help to keep the momentum going in your community.

The New York Times—arguably the most influential paper in America—wrote a powerful editorial calling on Congress to reject rollbacks of the Clean Air Act in the energy bill.¹

Just a few weeks ago, the Times didn't even mention this hidden rollback in its own coverage. Now, its editors are highlighting it as one of the most important issues that must be addressed.

Now that we have their attention, we need to make sure the message gets out in your local papers, too. Can you send a quick letter to the editor of The Daily News—or another local paper—about the urgent need for Congress to make this critical fix to the energy bill? Click here:

http://pol.moveon.org/lte?campaign_id=115&id=16692-10220574-Hp3nGRx&t=3

You can send the letter right from our website, and we provide everything you need to write it. It just takes a few minutes.

A letter to the editor is a really powerful way of influencing the public debate and getting through to your senators. Members of Congress and their staffs routinely compile letters to the editor to understand what their constituents are thinking. And the media read it as feedback on their coverage.

Here are a few key points for your letter:

• The time is now to pass strong clean energy jobs legislation that will jumpstart our economy and lay the groundwork for America to be competitive in the 21st century. The combined economic and climate crises require urgent action, and Americans continue to support Obama's campaign vision for a clean energy future.
• As a recent New York Times editorial argued, "The older, dirtiest [coal] plants...simply cannot be let off the hook." The Senate must close damaging loopholes in the energy bill.²
• To get the economy going again, New York needs more windmills, not more smokestacks. Solar and wind create twice as many jobs as coal. More coal means fewer clean energy jobs.³
• We must fix the energy bill and save the Clean Air Act. The energy bill that passed the House of Representatives was weakened by industry lobbyists and repeals the part of the Clean Air Act that limits global warming pollution from power plants. This rollback will open the door for as many as 100 new coal plants and give a new lease on life for the oldest and dirtiest coal plants.⁴
  

Can you send a letter to the editor of The Daily News, or another local newspaper? Just click here to get started:

http://pol.moveon.org/lte?campaign_id=115&id=16692-10220574-Hp3nGRx&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Anna, Laura, Eli, Carrie and the rest of the team

Sources: 

1. "Climate Loopholes," The New York Times, July 21, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/opinion/22wed11.html

2. Ibid.

3. "Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy," Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, September 2008.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51621&id=16692-10220574-Hp3nGRx&t=5

4. "Stopping the Coal Rush," www.SierraClub.com, Accessed July 28, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51483&id=16692-10220574-Hp3nGRx&t=7

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 5 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

---

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to eddie alfaro on July 30, 2009. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.