On Friday, February 10 sixteen environmental organizations sent a letter to House Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (SEEC) members thanking them for their leadership protecting safeguards for clean air, water, and the environment, and promoting federal policies supporting an American clean energy future.
The letter, signed by the heads of the League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund, Earthjustice, and others, says that "the House of Representatives Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (SEEC)’s core vision of a clean energy future kept at the forefront of the national debate what the public knows to be true: the pathway to a vibrant economy and good jobs rests with clean, renewable energy, not tearing down life-saving safeguards and a generation of environmental protections."
The text of full letter, which was sent individually to all 50 SEEC members, can be read below.
February 10, 2012
Dear Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition Member:
On behalf of our organizations and the millions of members that we represent, we offer our sincere thanks for your unflagging leadership in protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the wildlife and lands we cherish.
Last year saw an unprecedented assault on these values that artificially pitted a strong economy against public health and the environment. Your strong denial of this false choice was integral in ultimately turning back the tide. More importantly, the House of Representatives Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (SEEC)’s core vision of a clean energy future kept at the forefront of the national debate what the public knows to be true: the pathway to a vibrant economy and good jobs rests with clean, renewable energy, not tearing down life-saving safeguards and a generation of environmental protections.
Over the course of the year, SEEC worked tirelessly to educate colleagues and constituents about the high stakes involved in each fight, from anti-environmental riders on must-pass bills, to standalone efforts to gut the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, to the importance of smart investments in the technologies of tomorrow. Time and again, the Coalition called them as they saw them. We particularly want to acknowledge your many efforts on the FY11 Continuing Resolution, the FY 12 Interior-EPA spending bill and Leader Cantor’s Toxic Agenda for America. Your leadership helped defend the American people’s right to a clean and safe environment. By highlighting the extreme nature of these attacks on public health and our environment, you helped ensure that the vast majority of them were not included in December’s final must-pass bills.
We look forward to continuing our work with you and the Coalition. Together, we will help build a cleaner, healthier future for our children by protecting the environmental laws currently on the books and by developing new laws that will pave the way to a brighter tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Trip Van Noppen
President
Earthjustice
Margie Alt
Executive Director
Environment America
Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council
Bill Meadows
President
The Wilderness Society
Cindy Shogan
Executive Director
Alaska Wilderness League
Catherine Thomasson, MD
Executive Director
Physicians for Social Responsibility
John Seager
President
Population Connection
Erich Pica
President
Friends of the Earth
Fred Krupp
President
Environmental Defense Fund
Robert Wendelgass
President
Clean Water Action
Jamie Rappaport Clark
President
Defenders of Wildlife
Kevin Knobloch
President
Union of Concerned Scientists
Philip Radford
Executive Director
Greenpeace US
Gene Karpinski
President
League of Conservation Voters
Andrew Sharpless
Chief Executive Officer
Oceana
Peter Bahouth
Executive Director
US Climate Action Network