Dear {{ user.first_name|default:”Friend” }},
Powerful corporate interests are using Latinos as pawns in their war against clean energy.
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced important new energy standards that would reduce carbon emissions — the biggest source behind human-made climate change1 — by 30%.
In response, the Koch Brothers and other corporate interests responded by launching a misinformation campaign intended to make people believe that reducing air pollution is actually a bad thing — especially for minorities!
The conservative, National Center for Public Policy, claims that the new carbon rules would kill jobs and hurt low-income people, and communities of color the most.2
What these corporate interests fail to mention is that the rules will not only reduce carbon emissions, but also push power companies to switch to carbon-free energy sources, like solar and wind power.3 These safer and more energy efficient sources will benefit low-income families, Latinos and other communities of color — generating jobs and energy savings.4
The EPA will soon open up public public comment on the proposed carbon rules prior to final adoption. Each state will decide how to implement the new standards, so our voices are more critical than ever — together, we can counteract the Koch Brothers’ deceptive rhetoric aimed at watering down the EPA standards.
Once the EPA comment period begins, we’ll share your statement with them. It’s as simple as that.
Reigning in carbon pollution is critical to our communities. Nearly six million Americans — largely low-income people of color — live within three miles of a coal power plant.5
It’s inexcusable that coal plants and natural gas-fired plants have been allowed to poison our families for so long. Strong carbon control standards could reduce the risk of heart attacks, lung cancer, asthma, and other diseases that have been linked to fossil fuel emissions.6
Corporate interests have already made it clear that they intend to keep us tied to fossil fuel-based energy generation in the name of protecting their greedy profits. The Koch Brothers are spending millions trying to squash the growth of rooftop solar across the country.7 And just last week, anti-clean energy forces were able to get a bill approved in Ohio to freeze development of all renewable energy.8
Since it will be up to each state to implement the newly proposed standards on local power plants, and because the EPA rules represent the most ardent step the Obama Administration has ever taken to tackle our climate change crisis, the battle for our energy choices will only intensify.
Make no mistake, the war against clean energy and reduced air pollution is coming to a neighborhood near you. Corporate interests will not hesitate to implement dirty tricks like using our community as pawns to get what they want — to keep us tied to the coal and gas industry.
Tell the EPA: Don’t bow down to corporate interests. We support reducing carbon pollution now!
Thanks and ¡Adelante!
Arturo, Refugio, Mariana, Luis, Erick, Erica, and the rest of the Presente team
P.S. Can you donate $5 to support our work? We rely on contributions from people like you to see campaigns like this through.
Sources:
1. Obama’s New Plan to Fight Climate Change Is a Really Big Deal, Mother Jones, May 30, 2014
2. Obama’s big environmental move: Power plants to cut carbon pollution, CNN, June 2, 2014
3. Everything you need to know about the EPA’s proposed rule on coal plants, The Washington Post, June 1, 2014
4. Assessing the Multiple Benefits of Clean Energy, EPA, September, 2011
5. Coal Blooded, NAACP, November, 2012
6. Report: EPA power plant rules may aid health, USA Today, May 27, 2014
7. Koch brothers, big utilities attack solar, green energy policies. LA Times, April 19, 2014
8. The war against renewable energy just claimed its first victory in Ohio, Salon, May 29, 2014