A fresh start, but only a beginning

President Obama has begun to chart a new course on energy and the environment. Yet, as he would readily acknowledge, the toughest obstacles lie ahead.

In January, Margie Alt, Anna Aurilio and Ivan Frishberg, staff in our Washington, D.C., lobby office, applauded the president in the East Room of the White House as he directed his administration to take steps that will help states, including New York, to put more hybrids and other fuel-efficient cars on our roads, reducing our carbon footprint and our dependence on oil.

In February, staff from our national federation, were also in attendance as the president signed the economic recovery bill, including an $80 billion down payment on clean energy that will create 1.5 million green jobs nationwide, including thousands in New York.

“We’re thrilled the president has acted so boldly and swiftly,” said Environment New York’s Anna Aurilio. “Yet there’s a mountain of work left to do, and he’s going to need all the help he can get.”

Stopping future polluters

Energy companies have proposed to build new coal-fired power plants across the U.S. We’re pushing Congress to consider an alternative plan, one that would expand wind, solar, geothermal and other clean power.

The president has set a goal of 25 percent renewable electricity by 2025 and has proposed a cap on carbon pollution—both keys to unleashing the power of clean energy to transform our economy. Despite the pro-environment majority in Congress, approval of either measure is far from assured—especially in the Senate, where special interests and the president’s adversaries need only 41 votes to snarl progress in endless debate and delay.

Meanwhile, we’re also working hard to keep mining interests from spoiling the Grand Canyon, restore Clean Water Act protections to America’s waterways, restart cleanups of our worst toxic waste sites, and end years of neglect in our national parks.

“We can’t repair overnight the damage done over eight years,” said Aurilio. “But we’re determined to push hard, move quickly and restore real protections to our air, water and land.”