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Hope for global warming solutions

In recent months, a pair of court decisions, coupled with action on Capitol Hill, has raised hopes for progress on global warming.

The Clean Car Program

Environment Iowa applauded the court decisions (a district court decision in Vermont in September and a U.S. Supreme Court decision in April), which put pressure on the EPA to allow states to adopt so-called Clean Car programs.

States that implement the program can set tougher standards for car and truck carbon emissions and require automakers to offer more hybrids and other advanced-technology vehicles.

Working with other members of Environment America, our federation of state-based environment groups, we’ve helped convince 15 states to adopt the program, pending EPA approval.

The Safe Climate Act

Over the past year, we’ve also urged members of our state’s congressional delegation to support the Safe Climate Act. The bill would cut the nation’s global warming pollution 80 percent by 2050, a change most scientists agree is necessary to avert catastrophic climate change.

So far, Reps. Bruce Braley and David Loebsack, have joined 140 other members of Congress in agreeing to co-sponsor the legislation.

In October, we released a study called “Cleaner, Cheaper, Smarter.” Under any pollution cap-and-trade program, emissions would be capped, but polluting companies would still be allowed to emit some carbon in the air or sell their allowances to other firms. We think companies should pay for their allowances.

More than 100 leaders and organizations signed onto the report’s recommendations. Among them, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, the Consumer Federation of America and MoveOn.

“When it comes to pollution, people have been paying the price for too long—breathing unsafe air, risking the worst effects of global warming, and footing the bill for clean-up,” said Emily Figdor, our chief advocate on global warming policy in Washington, D.C. “Cap-and-trade programs should cut emissions, not provide a windfall for polluters.”

Wind farm near Decorah. Iowa is the third largest producer of wind energy in the nation.