As people survey their surroundings after President Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline proposal (I still can’t believe I can say those words!), some are asking, what’s next for the fight against climate change? Well thanks to Senator Merkley’s bold leadership, his new bill, Keep it in the Ground Act of 2015, leads us to that next step: fighting to keep dirty fuels in the ground.
It wasn’t all that long ago that climate deniers were running rampant with misinformation, but now, in just a few years, climate change is accepted as the concrete science that it is with deniers on the fringe.
The science is clear that the extraction of dirty fuels has not only exacerbated our climate, but has threatened our health and our national security as well. From lung and respiratory illness, to incurable diseases that are predicted to rise due to climate change, to rising sea levels threatening resources and communities, to a rise in humanitarian disasters, we must take immediate action to stop climate change.
We’ve begun to see the transition to clean and renewable energy for years now. From solar to wind and beyond, we can and must keep improving to protect our climate and prevent the worst effects of climate disruption from occurring. But we cannot do this without a just transition from dirty fuels to clean energy.
Tens of thousands of Americans work in the fossil fuel industry. We should support these workers who have helped power this country. We must work with them, their unions, and their communities to negotiate a well-planned, fair and just transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. Working together, we can and must protect their livelihoods. We must make the investments to ensure their communities have plenty of new clean industries that provide family sustaining careers, that they get the training they need to fill those jobs, and that they can support their families in the meantime.
A just transition also means that the fossil fuel industry is held accountable for cleaning up work sites, so communities are left with usable land and clean water and air.
This transition will not occur overnight, but Congress must begin taking steps to prevent the worst effects of climate change. and stopping the expansion of fossil fuel production on our public lands and waters is the right place to start.
Senator Merkley’s bill does not just keep carbon emissions out of the atmosphere, it keeps our most treasured lands safe from oil spills, gas leaks, and coal mining. There is no way to make fracking safe, nor fix a mountain that has been stripped mined. As we saw from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, offshore drilling put our entire coastline at risk. We cannot afford another disaster at the hands of oil companies that put profit above our health, our communities, and our climate.
That’s why Congress must take up Senator Merkley’s bill. This legislation will place a moratorium on any new or renewed leases for coal, oil, and natural gas on all public lands and waters, prevent new trans-border tar sands pipelines, and prohibit all drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic Ocean.
Thank you Senators Merkley, Boxer, Cardin, Gillibrand, Leahy, Sanders, and Warren for your bold action. With this bill, we can begin to take the bold but necessary steps to transition off of fossil fuels permanently and protect our health and communities from the dangers of climate change.