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ASK YOUR GROUP TO SUPPORT A NATIONAL POLLUTION CAP FOR GREENHOUSE GASES

On December 2, 2009, The Center and 350.org took an historic step in the desperate fight against climate catastrophe:  We petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a national pollution cap for greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. If you belong to a group, we need your organization to stand with us by signing on to the letter below. Email your group's name, along with a contact person and title, to Rose Braz, the Center’s climate campaign coordinator, at rbraz@biologicaldiversity.org.

Now is the time to enforce the Clean Air Act — not gut it. Together, we can save the Clean Air Act and put it to work to save our climate.

December 2009

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson
Environmental Protection Agency
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20460

Dear Administrator Jackson,

We are writing in support of the petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and 350.org to cap greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act.  Specifically, the petition seeks to have greenhouse gases designated as “criteria” air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and to cap atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at 350 parts per million (ppm) — the level leading scientists say is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming — through the national ambient air quality (NAAQS) program.

For four decades, the Clean Air Act has protected the air we breathe through a proven, successful system of pollution control that saves lives and creates economic benefits exceeding its costs by many times. It’s time to fully use our strongest existing tool for reducing greenhouse gas pollution: the Clean Air Act.

Setting science-based national pollution caps for greenhouse gases would mark a critical step in the fight against global warming.  And the scientific consensus is clear: We must reduce the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million or below to avoid global catastrophe. 

Eighty percent of respondents to a survey by the Yale Project on Climate Change said the government should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant. And the top two reasons cited for the need for government action were: providing a better life for our children and grandchildren (66 percent) and saving many plant and animal species from extinction (65 percent). 

The Clean Air Act provides a comprehensive system of pollution control, with a track record of success that must now be employed to address the grave problem of carbon pollution and global warming. The Clean Air Act can work immediately without new climate legislation or in conjunction with new climate legislation. Now is the time to enforce the Clean Air Act, not gut it.

We urge you to move swiftly to grant the petition and enforce the Clean Air Act.

Sincerely,

350.org
8th Day Center for Justice
Alameda Creek Alliance
Allegheny Defense Project
Amazon Fund International
Amherst 350 Coalition
Animas Valley Institute
Apollo Kauai
Auburn American Indian Association from Auburn University
Audubon South Carolina
Austin Green Energy Group
Bay Localize
Berkeley Partners for Parks
Borneo Project
Boulder Zero Waste Trips
Broadened Horizons Organic Teaching Farm
Calumet Project
Center for a Sustainable Coast
Center for Biological Diversity
Centre for Civil Society Environmental Justice Project, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Citizens Against Pollution
Citizens Against Ruining the Environment
Citizens Climate Lobby
Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge
Clean Air Carolina
Climate Law & Policy Project
Climate SOS
Coastwalk California
Colorado Interfaith Power and Light
Community Coalition for Environmental Justice of Seattle WA
Commmunity Advocates for Safe Emissions (CASE)
Corporate Ethics International
Cutthroat, A Journal of the Arts
Deer Creek Valley Natural Resources Conservation Association
Dogwood Alliance
Dominican Sisters of Hope
Don't Waste Arizona, Inc.
Earth Day Los Angeles
Eco-Eating
EcoEquity
Eco-Justice Collaborative
Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Endangered Habitats League
Endangered Small Animal Conservation Fund
Enviro Show, WXOJ
EPIC - the Environmental Protection Information Center
Fairmont, Minnesota Peace Group
Food Democracy Now
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Northern San Jacinto Valley
Friends of the Owls
Friends of the Santa Clara River
Friends of Whitehaven Park
Food Empowerment Project
Fund for Wild Nature
Gifford Pinchot Task Force
Global Community Monitor
Global Exchange
Global Warming Education Network
Golden Gate Audubon
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID)
Grass Roots Environmental Action Team of Kansas (GREAT)
Grassroots Coalition for Environmental and Economic Justice and the Order of the Earth.
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Green Delaware
Greening Grace Committee
Green Peace Corps
Green Press Initiative
Greenwich Citizens Committee, Inc.
Hilltown Anti-Herbicide Coalition
Holy Innocents Episcopal Church of Little Lake, MI
Huachuca Audubon Society
Illinois Valley Sierra Club Activity Section
Intercommunity Ecological Council of Women Religious, St. Louis, MO
International Institute to Study Climate Change in the Islamic World
Kansas Chapter of the National Action Network
Kentucky Heartwood
KyotoUSA
Leadership Team of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O’Fallon, MO
Life of the Land (Hawai`i)
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
The Living Cosmos Society
Maine NVC Network
Malama Kaua`i
Massachusettes Forest Watch
Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities
Maui Tomorrow Foundation, Inc
Mercy Investment Program
Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network
Musicians United to Sustain the Environment
Nature in the City
NC WARN: North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network
North Suburban Peace Initiative (NSPI)
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Pacific Environment
Pesticide Action Network
Pipe Organs/Golden Ponds Farm
Post Carbon Institute
Post Carbon Salt Lake
Public Resource Associates
Responsible Endowments Coalition
Restore Sharp Park
SafeEnergyAnalyst.org
San Jose Peace & Justice Center
Sierra Madre's Bright Idea
Siskiyou Project
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Central Leadership
Sisters of Mercy-Detroit Charitable Trust
smartMeme Strategy and Training Project
Spokespeople
Stewards of the Earth
Students for a Just and Stable Future
Sustainable Energy & Economy Network
Sustainable Sanctuary Coalition of Greater Kansas City
Sustainable Wallingford
Tennessee Environmental Council
Turtle Island Restoration Network
Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth
United Church of Christ – Massachusetts Conference Environmental Task Team
Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk, U.S. Province
Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment
Vast Horizons
Village Presbyterian Church Environmental Action Committee
Village Presbyterian Church Justice and Peace Committee
Wasatch Clean Air Coalition
West Coast Climate Equity
West Metro Global Warming Action Group, Inc.
Western Nebraska Resources Council
Western North Carolina Physicians for Social Responsibility
Western Wildlife Conservancy
Wild Equity Institute
Wildlands CPR
Williamsburg Climate Action Network
Winnemem Wintu Tribe

 


Smokestacks photo by Doc Searls