Senate Spill Bill Fails to Address Root Causes of Gulf Oil Tragedy

Para su publicación inmediata
July 27, 2010

Contacto:
Kelly Trout, [email protected], 202-222-0722 (o), 717-439-0346 (c)
Kim Huynh, [email protected], 202-222-0723

Senate ‘Spill’ Bill Fails to Address Root Causes of Gulf Oil Tragedy

Bill contains some positive measures, but squanders opportunity to catalyze an oil-free future

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) this afternoon unveiled a draft outline of a pared-down oil spill bill after officially abandoning a broader attempt to address our climate and energy crises last week.

Friends of the Earth president Erich Pica had the following response to the draft summary:

“For a bill that was meant to respond to the consequences of our nation’s crippling dependence on oil, it will not prevent oil disasters like the one currently ravaging the Gulf Coast. This moment demanded aggressive measures to end drilling and propel our country toward an oil-free future.

“The bill’s positive reforms include putting polluters like BP on the hook to pay the full costs of oil spill damage and erecting a wall between revenue-takers and oil industry regulators in the Department of the Interior. While the bill includes investments in solutions like electric vehicles and energy efficient homes, they are crumbs compared to the billions in taxpayer dollars that subsidize Big Oil’s profits and pollution each year.

“Senators in bed with fossil fuel industry lobbyists have also hijacked this bill to promote natural gas, a false solution. Natural gas extraction consumes oil and is poisoning drinking water supplies from Texas to New York.

“The convergence of a favorable majority in Congress and the worst environmental catastrophe in U.S. history presented a once-in-a-generation opportunity to end our oil addiction. Unfortunately, the Obama administration and Congress didn’t seize that opportunity and future generations will suffer for it.

“In the absence of strong action from Congress, the Obama administration must put a permanent moratorium on drilling and aggressively promote policies to reduce oil consumption across the nation.”

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Amigos de la Tierra (www.foe.org) y nuestra federación de grupos de base en 77 países son una fuerza impulsora del uso sostenible y justo de los recursos de la Tierra. Somos progresistas que enfrentamos los factores económicos que impulsan la destrucción ecológica y la injusticia, y que no dudamos en decir verdades, a veces incómodas, a los poderosos. Nuestras campañas actuales se centran en promover la energía limpia y las soluciones al cambio climático, evitar que las tecnologías tóxicas y peligrosas se filtren en los alimentos que consumimos y los productos que utilizamos, y proteger los ecosistemas marinos y a las personas que viven y trabajan cerca de ellos.