Senator Cantwell moves forward with dirty energy bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Senate voted to conference an energy bill, S.2012, with the House of Representatives. Currently there are significant differences between the House and the Senate versions of the bill which would have to be reconciled before it can become law. Environmental organizations, including Friends of the Earth, had been calling on the Senate to refuse to go to Conference.

In response to the vote Friends of the Earth’s Climate and Energy Program Director Benjamin Schreiber issued the following statement:

The Senate bill that Senator Cantwell drafted undermines climate science by dictating that government scientists should treat biomass as carbon neutral. It will increase fracking by making it easier to build infrastructure for this polluting industry. And the House bill is even worse. A meal can only be as good as the ingredients, so it’s inevitable that anything that comes out of this conference will be rotten.

In Orlando the Democratic Party put forward the most progressive climate platform ever seen from a major U.S. political party. Less than a week later, Senator Cantwell should not be advancing a bill that will take us in the opposite direction.

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Expert contact: Ben Schreiber, (202) 222-0752, [email protected]
Communications contact: Kate Colwell, (202) 222-0744, [email protected]