NRCM thanks Reps. Pingree and Golden for sponsoring H.R. 9
NRCM news release
May 2, 2019 (Augusta, ME) – The U.S. House of Representatives today voted 230-190 to pass, H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act, which would ensure that America honors its commitments made under the 2015 international Paris Climate Agreement. Both of Maine’s U.S. Representatives, Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, sponsored H.R. 9 and voted in support of the bill’s passage.
The Climate Action Now Act would require that the federal government develop a plan to meet the climate pollution reduction targets set out in the Paris Climate Agreement and prohibit any federal funds from being used to advance the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Agreement. Although President Trump announced on June 1, 2017, that the U.S. would withdraw from the Agreement, Article 28 of the Paris Agreement states that the earliest possible effective withdrawal date by the U.S. cannot be before November 4, 2020, four years after the Agreement came into effect in the U.S. and one day after the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
In response to today’s vote, the Natural Resources Council of Maine issued the following statement from its Federal Project Outreach Coordinator Kristin Jackson:
“On behalf of all Mainers, we thank Representatives Pingree and Golden for standing up for urgent action on climate change. The Climate Action Now Act is the first meaningful legislation on climate change that the U.S. House of Representatives has passed in more than a decade. It is long past time for Congress to respond to the impacts of climate change.
“In Maine, state legislators are coming together, regardless of party affiliation, to pursue bipartisan legislation to advance clean energy solutions that will benefit Maine’s people, environment, and economy. The work being done on the local and regional levels to reduce pollution and create clean energy jobs, coupled with leadership like this from Congress, is especially important as fossil fuel industry lobbyists continue their campaign to silence science and stifle sensible climate solutions.
“We applaud the climate leadership being shown by Maine’s Congressional delegation and state elected officials. Our elected leaders know that Maine people and businesses want to see action on climate now.”
U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King have also shown their support for the Paris Agreement by speaking out publicly against the Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw from the Agreement. In April, the Maine Legislature enacted a resolution that requests the President and Congress work with America’s allies that signed the Paris Climate Agreement and to not withdraw from the Agreement.
