Republican Dirty Energy Push will Punish Consumers, Reward China, and Hurt the Climate
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, the U.S. House of Representatives will debate and vote on House Resolution 1, which, if passed, would gut our environmental and public health protections and exacerbate the climate crisis. Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“Promoting the use of old, dirty energy that needlessly kills people and speeds planetary destruction is a strange top priority for the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
“There’s no way to understand this climate chaos-accelerating legislative package as anything other than payback to the Republicans’ dirty energy donors.
“This legislative package is not serious policymaking, but it is worth underscoring that one of its primary objectives – expanding dirty energy exports from the United States – will increase prices for U.S. consumers by fast-tracking our energy to China even though the bill’s title says that it aims to lower prices.
“If the proponents of this bill cared a whit about lowering energy prices, assisting U.S. consumers and spurring the U.S. economy, they would instead insist on investments to accelerate the transition to 100% clean energy. Every day we wait increases both the cost of the transition and the costs that climate chaos will impose on society.
“The Republican energy agenda is a disgraceful abrogation of responsibility to protect Americans and the world from climate chaos, which, alongside nuclear war, is the greatest economic and environmental threat humans have ever faced.”
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