Letter in Support of CLEAR

I've sent the following letter to my NC Senators, Burr (R) and Hagan (D) encouraging them to get behind Cantwell's and Collins's Carbon Limits and Energy for America's Renewal act. I'm sending a version of this one to the White House as well. Early indications are that Obama will support the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill, which is unfortunate. I would have thought that after last summer's health care morass, the President would have seen the virtues of clarity and simplicity. The Republicans will have a hard time demagouging CLEAR. For one thing, it is co-sponsored by one of their own. Secondly--and more importantly--it is just 39 pages long. There's nothing hiding there. It won't be hard to counter their lies with references to the text of the bill itself.
Anyway, I encourage you to cut, paste and edit it as you see fit to send to your representatives in Congress and whomever else you think it might be useful to influence.

Dear Senator:

In the strongest way possible I wish to encourage you to lend your support to the Collins-Cantwell CLEAR Act bill. I have read the text of the bill in its entirety--the first time in my life I have ever done such a thing--and I am confident that more than any other measure under discussion the CLEAR Act will lessen the risk of dangerous climate change, will start America on a path to a more sustainable energy economy, and at the same time will minimize the economic harm to average citizens. Moreover, it is a political winner. Why in the world would you NOT support a bill that has bipartisan sponsorship, provides a rigorous framework for needed reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and at the same time will put a monthly check in the mailbox of every single one of your constituents that will put the vast majority of them at break-even or even better with respect to expenditures on energy?

I am a physician, a graduate of Duke University School of Medicine and Duke's internal medicine residency program. In my work I refer to scientific literature on a daily basis. I am familiar with the forms and methods of science. I have made a hobby of familiarizing myself with the science of climate change, and through such study I have been as strongly convinced that if left unchecked anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions will lead to potentially catastrophic global warming as I am that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer or that an elevated serum cholesterol leads to an increased risk of coronary artery disease. The time to act was five years ago. To dither around with pork-laden energy bills such as the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman proposal that do little to nothing to limit carbon emissions is worse than doing nothing at all, since the passage of such a measure would give us a false sense of accomplishment and would set back the timetable for meaningful action on climate change by years--years that we do not have. One might envision even more effective climate change mitigation schemes than Collins's and Cantwell's, but they are not before the Senate. Please, stop wasting America's and the world's time. Bring CLEAR to a vote and vote it into law.

Kind regards,
Aaron Walton