Addressing the climate crisis is our generation’s greatest challenge. Environmental reviews are an important tool in the fight to transition our economy away from dirty fossil fuels towards clean, renewable energy sources.
Our climate is the engine that makes our rivers run, our streams ebb and flow, and our forests grow tall. It makes all life, including ours, possible on planet Earth.
If the causes of warming global temperatures are not addressed, we will render the planet unlivable. Already, great shifts are occurring. Polar ice is melting at alarming rates. Superstorms like Hurricanes Irma, Harvey, and Maria are bearing down with greater regularity. Droughts and wildfires are intensifying and the oceans are acidifying as they soak up excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
NEPA helps to combat the climate crisis by addressing its source: pollution from dirty fossil fuels. The environmental review process doesn’t just require federal agencies to identify the impacts a project will have on the environment and the surrounding community (e.g., pollution from a power plant). It also requires federal agencies to analyze and disclose a proposed project’s anticipated carbon footprint and eventual contribution to climate change.
In essence, NEPA embodies the recognition that you can’t just build a massive fossil fuel project and pretend that the impacts end at the property line. The result of this is a true accounting of climate and public health costs of dirty fossil fuel projects.
Our campaign is committed to the belief that a safe and healthy climate must be built on the power of ordinary people.