In June, the Environmental Protection Agency introduced a proposal to set the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants. This week, the EPA will hold public hearings in four major cities to obtain feedback on this historic regulation.
The EPA’s proposal will protect future generations from unchecked climate change. Power plants are responsible for 40 percent of the carbon pollution in the United States – making them the single largest source of that pollution in the country. The unlimited dumping of carbon pollution is the chief cause of climate change. Reducing the amount of carbon pollution from power plants is a life-saving measure that will protect our children, our nation and the world from devastating effects of climate change.
We’ve seen an incredible response from League members in support of this regulation, but will still need you to raise your voice. Tell the EPA you support their groundbreaking proposal to limit carbon pollution from existing power plants:
Subject: EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0602
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Email: a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov
Big Players Promote Water Privatization
By Ellen Dannin, Truthout News Analysis
August 1, 2014 (Excerpts)
Americans used to take water for granted, but the water shutoff in Detroit has taught us all-important lessons. We now know that the private sector is willing to be ruthless in denying access to the most basic needs of living beings, and we also know that even those who have the least resources can also have power – if they are organized. Knowing these facts can prepare us all for the current fight over the privatization of water.
On May 21, as the Senate prepared to vote on the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA), Senator Boxer spoke on the critical roles the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) section would play . Said Boxer, “We also have a new initiative to assist localities in need of loans for flood control or wastewater and drinking water infrastructure to receive those loans from a new fundi ng mechanism we have named WIFIA.”
These funding arrangements supplement existing programs and will help to leverage more investment in our nation’s aging infrastructure. The conference report also updates the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to ensure that our existing sources of water infrastructure funding are able to continue to meet pressing infrastructure needs.
There is no question that we have long needed a new water law that can accomplish all these goals. But even before the ink from President Obama’s signing pen had touched the bill, the finance and private water industries were reenacting their own version of the pivotal moment in Oliver Twist – when the starving orphan Oliver holds out his empty bowl and says, “Please, sir, I want some more.”
Water is necessary to the lives of all beings on this planet. The water privatization industry knows this and wants to take advantage of our dependence on water and on the economic weakness of our country’s finances.
The editor suggested: A must -read-source in the finance sector is “The Bond Buyer”. It has been published five days a week since 1891 for an audience that includes municipal finance professionals, bond issues, government officials and investors.
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