WASHINGTON, D.C. — Danielle Droitsch, Director of U.S. Policy for the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to today's unveiling of the American Power Act by Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman:
"With today's announcement of the Kerry-Lieberman bill, the national political leadership in the U.S. continues to advance serious and detailed proposals to cut greenhouse gas pollution, meet emission targets and create thousands of new clean energy jobs.
"This makes an unfortunate contrast to Stephen Harper's government, which continues to talk about targets without having produced any plan to meet them. Instead, Canada's government has adopted a 'wait for the Americans' approach.
"The Senate's response to this bill remains to be seen. But here in Canada, Prime Minister Harper already has the legislative power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions across the economy, so we don't need to wait for the successful passage of an American climate bill to move forward on key climate policies.
"Taking action in Canada to invest in clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas pollution through an economy-wide cap-and-trade system would create new jobs, support solid economic growth and allow for harmonization with a future U.S. system down the road. Independent economic analysis shows that we can do this while safeguarding our competitiveness.
"A majority of Canadian MPs support immediate regulatory action to meet science-based climate targets, and a majority of Canadians want Canada to be a leader in the global effort to tackle climate change. Continued delay and inaction by Canada will see us fall even further behind."
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The Pembina Institute is a non-partisan sustainable energy think tank. Director of U.S. Policy Danielle Droitsch works out of Pembina's new Washington bureau. Pembina will provide further analysis of the Kerry-Lieberman bill in the days to come.
Contact:
Danielle Droitsch
Director of U.S. Policy
202-615-3770 (cell)
danielled@pembina.org
Background: Pembina recently opened its Washington D.C. Bureau
www.pembina.org/media-release/2003
