A Yea Vote for the Climate Bill

The United States House of Representatives narrowly passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, on June 26, voting in favor of the most sweeping and comprehensive legislation aimed at controlling greenhouse gasses and energy independence ever to take the House floor.

And I voted for it.

That’s right, I levied all of the political capital I have, risked my re-election next year and separated myself from many of the “conservative” democrats from those Midwest states that rely on coal plants for so much of their energy to vote yes.

In the end, in possibly one of the biggest votes this congress will see – depending on the health care vote – and possibly one of the biggest votes of the past 50 years, voting no just wasn’t an option.

But it wasn’t that easy, not by a long shot.

For much of the day I didn’t know how I was going to vote. Even for me, the passionate environmental lover and clean energy freak, this bill scared me.

I bugged my Hill friends all day long, wondering what was happening. Oh, and quickly trying to brief myself with the 25^th hour managers amendment thrown in that I found out about when my blackberry went off at 3 a.m. Could I really read those extra 300 pages before the vote?

My staff kept tabs on the constituent phone calls coming in, and, 10 to 1, they were against the bill. Homeowners didn’t want higher energy costs, especially in a deep recession. Business owners didn’t want higher overhead costs. Farmers knew it meant an increase in fertilizer costs. For everyone, it meant paying more.

I recognize that as a representative official, I work for my constituents. But was this that one vote, the one that comes along maybe only a few times in a career – if that – where I heed the judgment because of some factor that I deem larger than the people who put me in office?

Yes.

I ride my bike or the bus to work.  I recycle everything. I attempt to buy things that use less packaging. I wash my cloths in cold water. I use as little AC as possible.  And all because I think it matters – which hopefully it does.

Enviro, Generation Y, my inner hippie – call it whatever you want. But it’s far from enough. And I don’t care if you believe in global warming – which I do – or not. We must start somewhere, and this is that start.

The bill presses higher energy costs of everyone, understood. But what’s the worst case scenario here? What if those scientists that signed the petition are correct? What if the warming of the earth and melting of the polar ice caps is just a cycle of the world? What if people and lawmakers like Representative Steve King from Northwest Iowa are correct, that climate change doesn’t exist? Those thoughts can’t yet be completely ruled out.

But so what. So they are true. So global warming doesn’t exist and we just passed a bill to curb it, then what?

Then America just passed the bill to lead this country to energy independence. The bill that gave us a healthier place to live. The bill that helped create American made jobs. The bill that will ensure energy for our future.

So the only way I could vote no is if I didn’t want to see American military lives and billions of dollars saved securing Mideast oil. Or if I thought carbon dioxide helped me breath. Or if I thought America was finished creating new industries. Or if I hoped my quality of live should be better than my children’s.

That’s the worst case scenario of what a yes vote to this bill means. Now throw climate change back in.

Without passing this legislation, America failed to lead – and we love leadership in America – the world to save itself. Not voting yes means more drastic changes in weather patterns causing increased natural disasters. It means more animal species vanishing. It means islands and shorelines disappearing. It means millions of people become “climate change refugees.” It means ruining the lives of future generations.

I recognize it’s a cost, but it’s one I’m willing to bear.

So my paycheck is a little smaller each month – I can find other places to cut. So my profit margins aren’t quite as high. At what point do all Americans, individuals, groups, corporations and industry, need to come together. For me that time is now. The risks are just too great otherwise.

The bill steers far from perfect, but it’s a start. How often is perfect legislation passed? Not very, if ever. This bill becomes a building block to start saving the world from the absolute worst case scenario.

I voted yes. It would be nice at some point for everybody to accept some sacrifice. The cost only rises.