Inspiring young people

Dear Editor:

The CHS Girls Volleyball Boosters would like to thank Madison Romero for her fundraising efforts during Breast Cancer Awareness month in October.

While cheering for the Wolfpack and her sister Tyler, Madison, age 10, also offered handmade bracelets to fans who made a donation to breast cancer research. Proceeds have been donated to the Breast Health Programs at the Robert and Beverly Lewis Family Cancer Care Center at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center.

Bob Bird

Treasurer, Claremont High School

Girls Volleyball Boosters

Cutting carbon pollution

Dear Editor:

The League of Women Voters urges everyone to contact representatives in the US Congress to ask them to oppose the discussion draft being led by Congressman Whitfield and Senator Manchin that would effectively block any chance of limiting carbon pollution from power plants.

Tailored to prevent the nation’s biggest- polluting industry from reducing the heat-trapping pollution that drives dangerous climate change, this proposal is extreme. It puts the health of our children at risk and ignores the moral obligation to protect us all and future generations from climate change.

Carbon pollution is imposing real costs on our country’s health and economy, and that hurts American families and communities. Last year’s extreme weather—droughts, fires, storms, flooding—cost our country $140 billion. And the federal government picked up the lion’s share of the tab, to the tune of about $1,100 per taxpayer.

The draft bill ignores these facts and is driven by a denial of the science that makes clear that these threats will only grow worse if we do not act now. The bill blocks the Environmental Protection Agency from carrying out carbon pollution limits on existing power plants by requiring a new act of Congress before such limits could take effect.

The bill gives extremists in one chamber of Congress the power to continue to block those pollution limits, no matter what the other chamber, the EPA or President think is necessary, achievable and effective.

The bill would effectively repeal the requirement under today’s Clean Air Act to reduce carbon pollution from the biggest polluters and replace it with an approach that lets one chamber of Congress block carbon pollution limits indefinitely.

Power plants have limits on their emissions of mercury, smog, soot, sulfur, arsenic, cyanide and lead, but no limits on dangerous carbon pollution. Now the EPA is putting in place a reasonable, practical, cost-effective plan to reduce the pollution driving climate change. We cannot continue to let power plants release unlimited amounts of carbon pollution into our air. It isn’t right. It isn’t safe, and it needs to stop.

The American people want climate action, not more stalling and certainly not retreat: According to a February 2013 poll conducted by the Benenson Strategy Group, 93 percent agree that “[w]e have a moral obligation to future generations to leave them a planet that’s not polluted and damaged,” and 65 percent of voters support “the President taking significant steps to address climate change now.”

This proposal would stop EPA’s work to protect this and future generations from carbon pollution dead in its tracks. Once again, we urge you to oppose this irresponsible pollution agenda and instead support EPA’s reasonable, practical plan to cut carbon pollution using today’s Clean Air Act.

Ellen Taylor

VP for Advocacy

League of Women Voters of the Claremont Area