Against the Big Oil-Gas Bailouts

Sierra Club Action Letter (Jan. 11, 2010):

Oppose Murkowski Amendment to ignore climate science and bailout big polluters

Dear Senator,

On January 20th the Senate will vote on an amendment from Senator Murkowski of Alaska to block the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency and President Obama to protect the public's health and safety by enforcing limits on global warming pollution under the Clean Air Act--limits reaffirmed by the Supreme Court almost three years ago.

Senator Murkowski's amendment would disregard decades of research, scientific debate, court cases, public hearings and comments that state that global warming is happening and that it will be dangerous to human health and welfare. Last month more than 400,000 Americans submitted comments in favor of EPA's proposal to limit pollution from the biggest global warming polluters. We cannot afford to ignore that global warming pollution will endanger public health in the U.S. and around the world. Furthermore, action to fight global warming will build a clean energy economy that will not only mean less pollution, but more jobs and greater security as well. If successful, Senator Murkowski's amendment would bail out big polluters and stop progress towards clean energy future dead in its tracks.

Please join me in opposing this amendment that ignores the serious threat of global warming to health and welfare.

<<Personalized Addition:>> In addition, please note that such bail outs create the perverse incentive of moving away from durable future economic prosperity and security by reducing the cost of fossil fuel addiction and relatively increasing the cost of of the transition to a non-carbon, renewable energy sustainable economy. We already subsidize big oil and coal, thereby artificially decreasing the financial cost of our fossil fuel addiction. Add to this the artificially low, market-failure prices from the social and environmental externalities of our oil addicted society, and we have the recipe for a perfect storm of impotency in the face of the largest crisis humanity has yet to face -- global warming as the visible tip of the larger invisible sustainability crisis ice berg. The human economy systematically and continually increases a range of pollutants, uses up non-renewable resources, and destroys a range of nonsubstitutable natural capital eco- goods and service flow until society will soon fall over the edge of environmental toxicity and resource scarcity in the largest collapse of the natural economy humanity has ever seen. The resulting seizure of our economy and lack of substitutable inputs will put humanity out of business. This is humanity's present business as usual scenario, and the one to which the big oil and coal bail outs increase humanity's commitment. Please do not contribute to this short-sighted idiocy, for our sakes, for the sakes of our kids and theirs, and for the earth itself. Shifting the a sustainable economy transition is the only real scenario for a last, on-going, long wave of economic innovation and value production. We can catch this wave if we try, but it will take intentional choices, commitments, and action. Please do your part in shifting society to the path towards durable economic prosperity and security at levels higher than yet seen. Vote no on the big oil and gas bail outs.