Wyandotte & Lansing,
Mich.—Standing in front of a solar and wind powered church and in the Capitol,
Environment Michigan and a network of faith-based, labor, business and
environmental allies announced the first steps in a far-reaching effort calling
on state and congressional candidates to support moving Michigan beyond fossil
fuels and toward a cleaner energy future.
“Michigan has the know-how to reduce our
dependence on fossil fuels, and move toward a cleaner, more secure energy
future,” said Abby Rubley, Field
Organizer with Environment Michigan. “We
need leaders who have the political will to support putting our national
security, environment, global climate, and children’s futures above the energy
industry’s interests.”
Michigan’s energy problems are mounting. From 1960-2001, Michigan’s energy consumption tripled while population
grew by only 26 percent. Since Michigan
imports 100% of its coal, 100% of its uranium, 96% of its oil and 75% of its
natural gas, energy consumption not only has direct costs to residents and
consumers, but also represents a drain on Michigan’s economy. Michiganders
annually spend over $20 billion importing energy (nearly 5% of the state’s
GSP).
As a response to this impending
crisis, Environment Michigan is calling on all state and federal candidates to
deliver on the promise of a New Energy Future by supporting policies that help
Michigan and the rest of the country achieve three key goals:
- Harness clean, renewable, homegrown energy
sources for at least one quarter of all energy needs by 2025;
- Save energy with high performance homes,
buildings and appliances so that by 2025 we use 10 percent less energy
than we do today; and
- Commit $5 billion over the next 10 years to clean
energy ventures that would catapult Michigan
into a national energy leader.
Environment Michigan has already received over 60 signatures
from candidates on the New Energy Future platform.
Today, Environment Michigan Research & Policy Center released a report today showing the benefits of these
policies. According to the report, achieving
these goals by 2025 would enable the United States to:
- Save 900 million tons of coal per year, or about
80 percent of all the coal consumed in the United States in 2005.
- Save 1.7 billion megawatt-hours of electricity
per year, 30 percent more than was used in all the households in America in
2005.
- Save 9.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per
year, nearly twice as much as currently used in all of America’s
homes.
- Save 10.8 million barrels of oil per day, equal
to four-fifths of the amount of oil we currently import from all other
nations in the world.
“The potential payback from these
efforts is tremendous,” said David Gard, Energy Policy Director with Michigan
Environmental Council. “The result will
be a cleaner, more sustainable foundation on which to build Michigan’s economy for the 21st century,”
continued Gard.
Over the next six weeks,
Environment Michigan will work with allied groups across the country to build
support for the goals of the New Energy Future.
“The response to stopping global warming and moving toward clean energy
within the religious community has been tremendous,” said Reverend Charles
Morris, Director of Michigan Interfaith Power & Light. “Just this week, 80 congregations in Michigan have shown or
will show The Inconvenient Truth as part of our energy education and outreach
effort.”
“The time has come for Michigan to build a
stronger economy by leading the country in the creation of new, clean energy,”
said Daniel Leland, Field Organizer for Environment Michigan. “Doing so will reinvigorate our economy,
create the jobs of today and tomorrow, save consumers money, and protect our
environment. It’s up to candidates for
public office to make the promise of a New Energy Future a reality.”
The full text of the report
and the New Energy Future state and federal platform are available at www.environmentmichigan.org or
upon request. The list of candidates who
have signed onto the platform so far is also available upon request.
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Environment Michigan - a statewide, citizen-based,
non-profit, non-partisan environmental advocacy organization - is the new home
of PIRGIM’s environmental work. www.environmentmichigan.org
