US Reps Call for Science-Based Historic Climate Change Bill

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Students from the SUNRISE National Movement Posed Behind a Message to Senator Collins at a Rally at City Hall Last Year.

Arthur Spiess With His Message in Support of Science.

Lisa Lizler, of Munjoy Hill Holds a Sign at the Women’s March Previously.

Leaders in the US House of Representatives announced a major new initiative yesterday afternoon that calls for net zero emissions pollution in the US by midcentury.  This science-based target aims to keep global warming below 1.5 additional degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in order to avert the worst impacts of climate change.

US Representatives Frank Palone, Paul Tonko and Bobby Rush released a detailed memo yesterday summarizing the scope of the CLEAN Future Act.  The Energy and Commerce Committee leaders also announced a series of next steps for public feedback in the proposed provisions.  The Congressmen hope this dialogue will galvanize support for the national economy-wide transformation necessary to make meaningful progress on this issue.

“Global warming affects every single Mainer – from our families to our broader communities.  We are already seeing significant life-threatening impacts every year and if we continue to spew planet-warming pollution into our atmosphere, it will be only get worse.  This bill represents the most ambitious example of congressional leadership on climate in more than a decade.  It aims to establish a road map and national dialogue about how we can best more forward as a nation to address the climate crises and get off fossil gel, once and for all.  We applaud Representatives Pallone,Tonko and Rush for sparking more national dialogue on this pressing threat,” wrote Anya Fetcher, state director of Environment Maine in a press release yesterday.

Meanwhile, “The New York Times” has reported this month on the efforts of the Trump administration to dismantle and reject the work of government scientists, forcing some to leave government employment.

On January 1, 2020, the “Times” reported in part  that a forthcoming rule on water pollution “neglects established science” by “failing to acknowledge watershed systems,” the scientists said.  The article continued that “They found no scientific justification for excluding certain bodies of water from protection under the new regulations.