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Klobuchar Says Time Has Come for Action on Global Climate Change

Earth Day speech calls climate change a challenge and an opportunity for America to lead

April 22, 2008

Washington, D.C. – In a Senate floor speech to commemorate Earth Day, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar said global climate change is the most pressing environmental challenge facing the world today and said Congress will have an historic opportunity this spring to pass legislation that would reduce greenhouse gas pollution and produce a healthier planet.  Klobuchar’s speech was the first of a series she will be giving in the coming weeks outlining the opportunity before Congress to take leadership in addressing climate change and creating the clean-energy economy of the future.

“On this Earth Day, we should remember that, while global climate change is a huge challenge, it also presents huge opportunities, it gives us the opportunity to develop new technologies, new jobs and new industries. It gives us the opportunity to reduce our dependence on foreign oil – which just hit another record of $118 per barrel this week. It gives us an opportunity to give consumers new, cheaper alternatives to fossil fuels. It is an opportunity we must seize now.”

To listen to the radio actuality click here.

Klobuchar noted that the United States took great strides in reducing air pollution and improving water quality in the decades after the first Earth Day, in 1970. But she said Earth Day has become a largely symbolic event since then and said it is time for the country to take action again.

Klobuchar, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, wrote key provisions of climate-change legislation the committee produced in December. The bipartisan bill calls for mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and would establish a “cap and trade’’ system using market forces to achieve efficient reductions in greenhouse gas pollution. Klobuchar wrote the bill’s first title, which would establish a national greenhouse gas registry to measure carbon emissions so that a cap-and-trade system can go into effect.

“In just a few weeks, an historic opportunity will come before this Congress,’’ Klobuchar said. “We will have the chance to pass climate-change legislation that is forward-looking, bipartisan and pragmatic. We will have the chance answer the call of our constituents, who understand the urgency of this issue. We will have a chance to regain world leadership on the most pressing environmental challenge of our day. We will have the chance to take our place in a great tradition of environmental stewardship in the Senate and to renew the promise that Americans made on the first Earth Day thirty-eight years ago.’’

To listen to the radio actuality click here.

The climate-change bill, authored by Senators John Warner (R-VA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT), is expected to come to the Senate floor in June.

Between now and then, Klobuchar will give a series of speeches outlining the opportunity before Congress to take leadership in addressing climate change and creating the clean-energy economy of the future.

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