Jeff Merkley calls for major investment in R&D for carbon capture/storage

Last week, Congress finally passed a watered down version of the Energy Bill. Unfortunately, key provisions of the bill which address climate change were removed due to obstructionism by the Bush White House and congressional Republicans.

It's not acceptable for Congress to continue to pass this kind of weakened legislation. As Oregon's U.S. Senator, Jeff Merkley will fight for specific global climate change initiatives until they are passed into law.

Jeff has already laid out part one and part two of his plan to curb global climate change. This week he introduced the last two sections. Please join Jeff by signing the petition to support this plan.

The third part of Jeff Merkley's plan includes incentives for cities to reduce the use of climate change emissions:

In 2005, Seattle mayor Greg Nickels launched the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection agreement . The agreement includes:

Policies and programs to meet or beat the target of reducing global warming pollution levels to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. This includes the development of clean, economical energy resources and fuel-efficient technologies: conservation, methane recovery for energy generation, waste to energy, wind and solar energy, fuel cells, efficient motor vehicles and biofuels. Clear timetables and emissions limits and flexible, market-based systems of tradable allowances among emitting industries. Promotion and incentives for maintaining healthy urban forests; encourage tree planting to increase shading and to absorb CO2.

Part four of Jeff's plan calls for significant investment in research for conservation, alternative energy and carbon capture/storage:

Increasing efficiency in cooling, heating and lighting appliances by 25 percent.

Investing in carbon capture storage systems which capture CO2 and store it in the ground at 800 large coal-fired plants or 1600 natural-gas-fired plants.

Increasing solar power to 700 times current capacity. Increasing wind power to 50 times current capacity to generate hydrogen for fuel-cell cars.

If you are committed to reducing global climate change, please sign on to this plan today. Together we can put our nation back on track.

Posted December 20, 2007
Spotlight