Use files posted below for information for pending plastics and transportation bills and policies:
The Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act
is gaining support in Congress. It was recently endorsed by AOC
(Via Judith Enck "Beyond Plastics" course at Bennington College"
On December 1st, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine released a breathtaking report titled Reckoning with the U.S. Role in Global Ocean Plastic Wastewhich Beyond Plastics applauds.
Inside Climate News wrote a great piece about the report for which I shared the following comments: "When you reduce plastics production, there are less air toxins and greenhouse gases,” often emitted in or near communities of color or low income. Poor plastics recycling rates means more waste is going to landfills or incinerators, which also tend to be in the same communities."
The report recommends the obvious: make less plastic. Reducing plastic production is the primary policy recommendation we have been making since the launch of Beyond Plastics nearly four years ago.
Please take a look at the report and share it with your elected representatives, especially your members of Congress and your State Legislators.)
Urge President-Elect Biden to be a plastic-free President.
8 PRIORITY PLASTIC ACTIONS PRESIDENT BIDEN CAN TAKE WITHOUT CONGRESS1.
Use the purchasing power of the federal government to eliminate single-use plastic items and replace them with reusable products.
2. Suspend and deny permits for new or expanded plastic production facilities, associated infrastructure projects, and exports.
3. Make corporate polluters pay and reject false solutions.
4. Advance environmental justice in petrochemical corridors.
5. Update existing federal regulations to curtail pollution from plastics facilities by using best available science and technology
.6. Stop subsidizing plastics producers.
7. Join international efforts to address the global plastic pollution crisis through new and strengthened multilateral agreements.
8. Reduce and mitigate the impacts of discarded and lost fishing gear
THIS BILL WILL
shift the burden of plastic cleanup to where it belongs: on the corporations that produce this waste.
- Require big corporations take responsibility for their pollution, requiring producers of plastic products to design, manage, and finance waste and recycling programs.
- Spur innovation, incentivizing big corporations to make reusable products and items that can actually be recycled.
- Create a nationwide beverage container refund program, which is successful at the state level.
- Reduce and ban certain single-use plastic products that are not recyclable.
- Establish minimum recycled content requirements for beverage containers, packaging, and food-service products.
- Spur massive investments in U.S. domestic recycling and composting infrastructure, while pressing pause on new plastic facilities until critical environment and health protections are put in place.
Late November 2020:
Senator Gillibrand (202-224-4451) needs to become a sponsor of the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act.. This bill written by Senators Udall and Lowenthal has 10 co-sponsors in the Senate where it's known as S. 3263 (and 89 co-sponsors in the House where it's known as H.R. 5845.)
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Transportation issues and considerations:
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please open this power point file to the left to review transportation policies and cleaner fuels...a draft proposal:
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Considerations for INVESTMENT bills for 116th Congress::
This document is organized into the following sections for ease of review. The grouping or ordering of these ideas should not be construed as a limitation on the scope of a policy or an indication of priority. Not every organization agrees with every policy suggested in this list. Any bill references are to bills in the 116th Congress.
please click open file below for specific recommendations in each field, plus a draft letter to the Senate for passage of important legislation:
This document is organized into the following sections for ease of review. The grouping or ordering of these ideas should not be construed as a limitation on the scope of a policy or an indication of priority. Not every organization agrees with every policy suggested in this list. Any bill references are to bills in the 116th Congress.
- Clean Electricity Generation
- Grid Modernization
- Transportation Electrification
- Transit and Smart Growth
- Building Decarbonization
- Affordable Housing
- Manufacturing of Clean Technologies
- Decarbonization of Industrial Processes
- Agriculture
- Conservation
- Pollution Cleanup
- Community Investments
- Economic Development
- Adaptation
- Technology Development
- International Diplomact
please click open file below for specific recommendations in each field, plus a draft letter to the Senate for passage of important legislation:
| climate_investment_strategy_-_coalition_letter_and_attachment_-_february_2021_v3_-_clean1__1_.docx |
