STOP #30
Concord, MA — Declare Energy Independence
Just as the famous "shot heard round the world" that marked the start of the American Revolutionary War was fired in Concord, Massachusetts, we may again look back to the Commonwealth as the beginning of a revolution in attitudes on global warming. For it is Massachusetts's challenge to the federal government's incomprehensible policy on global warming that will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court which may change forever the way we look at global warming pollution.
In defiance of the clear meaning of the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has refused to regulate carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases that are the cause of our current climate crisis. It is the Bush Administration's position that these gases that spew from the tailpipes of cars as well as power plants and industry, are not pollutants despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that they are the cause of global warming and the bizarre weather that's just beginning to take its toll.
On the same day the Supreme Court accepted this court case, a bizarre tropical weather system drenched the nation's capital, backing up traffic, closing federal buildings and toppling a 100-year old elm tree on the White House lawn. Why the heavy rains? Warmer temperatures mean more evaporation and more humidity that gets released in form of torrential rain.
In the spirit of 1776, Massachusetts and 10 other states bravely took it upon themselves to stop this pollution by requiring car manufacturers to producer cleaner cars that are more efficient and cheaper to operate. That's when the federal government stepped in and told them they had no legal authority, setting up the court case that will be heard round the world.
Exactly 230 years ago, we declared our independence from British rule. It was self-evident then that there was a better way: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Today, brave Americans like you are standing up and saying there's a better way: Renewable Energy, Conservation and the Pursuit of a Safe Climate.
