Urge the Senate to seek real energy security

As the Senate considers energy legislation, they need to know what kind of energy policy you want. Write and tell them that you want real energy security -- safe, clean and sustainable.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Support Clean, Safe Energy

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As you head back into session, I urge you to reject all attempts to enact shortsighted energy legislation that would perpetuate our dependence on oil. Giving away billions of tax dollars to oil and coal companies and sacrificing our nation's wild lands will not give us energy security today or tomorrow.

Instead of destroying places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we should be promoting cleaner, more efficient energy technologies that can cut our need for all oil -- foreign and domestic. We can help achieve America's energy independence by promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, and alternative fuels -- the quickest, cheapest and cleanest path toward long-term energy security -- while creating jobs and economic growth.

You will wrestle with many options over the next month as you and your colleagues debate the nation's energy policy. Please let the following guide your decisions:

*Oppose any energy bill that would open the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas drilling;

*Support increased miles-per-gallon standards for cars, light trucks and SUV's -- a move that will save consumers money at the gas pump, reduce oil consumption and cut pollution;

*Support standards to increase clean renewable energy such as solar and wind, which will create more jobs than oil and gas development;

*Oppose increased subsidies to polluting energy sources such as nuclear, coal and oil.

Again, please enact an energy policy that is sustainable -- one that protects our natural heritage and public health and ensures our security and independence into the future.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this matter.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
January 18, 2002

Background Information

REAL ENERGY SECURITY NOW

The Senate reconvenes in Washington D.C. next week. And it looks like the first order of business will be a debate and vote on energy legislation. No doubt, this will be a fierce battle. And EarthNet will be delivering ringside coverage directly to your inbox.

Our current energy system is big time dependent on fossil and nuclear fuels. The list of problems with these sources is longer than the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline. One of the biggest bummers about these sources is that they are highly concentrated in large facilities and transfer stations and therefore mighty vulnerable to attack. Plus, burning fuels harms human health, threatens the planet's climatic stability and -- in case you didn't know --electricity generators are the single largest class of industrial polluters. When you add it up, an energy policy that makes us more dependent on these sources doesn't make sense for the security of our nation, the health of our communities or our environment.

Try telling the administration that. Their plan -- passed by the House as H.R. 4 and being pushed by Republican members of the Senate -- furthers our dependence on fossil fuels and nuclear energy, opens up our national wild lands to development and rewards some of the biggest polluters in the country with massive pay outs. Put simply -- this thing won't work. It's old school solutions to very modern problems.

No ones arguing a single solution can meet our society's future energy needs. The solution instead could come from a family of diverse energy technologies and approaches that do not deplete our natural resources, destroy our environment or make us vulnerable to attack. These renewable energy technologies are pretty remarkable -- they tap into natural cycles and systems and create usable forms of energy. The light of the sun, wind and water in motion, heat in the ground -- all are natural energy sources that can supply our needs in a sustainable way. And don't forget that renewables are homegrown, which means -- if developed properly -- they can increase energy security and create local jobs.

Fortunately, a number of forward-thinking proposals -- backed by a variety of twenty-first century thinkers in the Senate and the environmental community -- are surfacing. These proposals are safer, smarter ways to address our energy needs. They include increasing fuel efficiency, investing heavily in renewable energies and protecting our wild lands from development.

Your Senator needs to know what kind of energy policy you want. Write and tell them that you want real energy security -- the kind that isn't vulnerable to attack, that protects our wild heritage and does not threaten our health.

TAKE ACTION NOW:

Use the EarthNet Action Center to ask your Senator for real energy security.

FOR MORE INFO: Lovins's Energy Article [requires Adobe Acrobat]: http://www.rmi.org/images/other/E-MobilizeEnergySol.pdf NRDC's Dangerous Addiction report: http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/oilsecurity/securityinx.asp Union of Concerned Scientists Energy Plan: http://www.ucsusa.org/index.html TomPaine.com Article: http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm?ID=4647