GOP tactics
A series of bills currently being considered in Congress will gut funding for clean energy and promote massive increases in fossil fuel extraction.
The sweeping Strategic Energy Production Act would roll back EPA safeguards, require more drilling on public lands, and speed up leasing for oil and gas extraction.
These proposals follow anti-clean energy amendments adopted by the House recently that include severe cuts to efficiency programs, a crucial wind energy research program, clean car rules for federal vehicles, and commitments to developing countries.
There will be no similar cuts to fossil fuels support: The bill increases already bloated research and development spending on fossil fuel technologies by 60 percent.
It is a gift to the fossil-fuel industry and an insult to generations of children who will have to live with the consequences.
Astoundingly, the GOP wants to end programs like the national initiative for wind technology, the federal ban on carbon-intensive fuels and the requirements for zero-carbon buildings.
They even stooped to target efficient light bulbs, the 40-year-old efficiency requirement for Department of Energy grants, and 20-year-old efficiency standards for showerheads.
Many of these effective programs were passed by Republican administrations and have nothing to do with stripping away consumer rights.
In order to please their handlers, Republicans are trying to systematically dismantle any program that helps us transition to cleaner energy and reduce our energy use, while dooming society to suffer the deadly consequences of drilling and mining every foot of the continent.
Peggy B. La Point,
Denton
