American Clean Energy and Security Act Passes

They said it wouldn’t be done—it couldn’t be done in the middle of the economic crisis. They said we wouldn’t see an energy bill until 2010, that it wasn’t a priority, that we could go chant our slogans about Mother Earth, Styrofoam and fluorescent light bulbs elsewhere. (By the way, I dare anyone to come up with a slogan featuring all three and post it in the comments!)

Well, they were wrong.

Yesterday the House of Representatives passed the brand spankin’ new, sparkling, historic, shiny happy American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). Written by the House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Chairman Ed Markey, the Act is supposed to create millions of new jobs, reduce air pollution, make security stronger and start a clean energy revolution in America.

And it’s about time. The United States is ranked as the biggest energy user, as well as the biggest global warming polluter, in the global community, emitting more carbon dioxide and burning more fossil fuels than any other country. And up to this point, we’ve had absolutely no congressional bills passed to cut global warming pollution.

Until now.

This revolutionary act does a number of things to help curb climate change. For starters, it sets emission reduction targets—a nice step up from the laughable “Clear Skies Initiative” introduced during the Bush years. It also protects forests and other natural ecosystems, creating a plan that, if followed by the world, could reduce deforestation by half within a decade—an amazing feat.

Though it doesn’t come anywhere near Al Gore’s goal of completely renewable energy, the bill does require electric companies to provide 20% of their services through renewable energy sources by 2020. With almost $200 billion being invested in new clean energy technologies, we also have a bill that—gasp!—embraces science. This is definitely a good sign.

Buildings, industries and appliances will all have new energy-saving standards enforced through the bill, which has been needed so badly for many years.

Here is the kicker: According to the creators of the bill, it will reduce carbon emissions from major U.S. polluters by 17% by 2020—and by over 80% by 2050! If this is indeed for real, that is a hefty improvement that just makes me giddy to even think about.

Thank you, dear members of the house. We think you’re ACES.  Members of the Senate, are you listening? We hope you’ll pass this important piece of legislation as well so we can finally address this global problem.