Are New Environmental Laws Worth the Cost?

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By Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director

It is difficult to overstate the tremendous progress President Obama has made. He has moved swifter and smarter than any president in recent memory. While naysayers warned of doing too much too quickly, President Obama maintained his resolve and his boldness is backed by overwhelming majorities of the American public.

President Obama has done more to lay the foundation for the clean energy future in three months than has been done in the previous three decades. His economic recovery plan, the budget, and a sweeping set of executive branch actions amount to a huge down payment on a cleaner, more prosperous future.

We have finally closed the books on the Bush era of climate denial once and for all. President Obama and his team of the best and the brightest have restored credibility, competence, and the rule of law to our government. Science is allowed to lead and agencies like the Department of Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency are once again in the business of protecting the public and our planet.

If what's past is prologue, we will have much to be hopeful about in the days to come. We will continue to work closely with the administration as we move on to the next phase of the president's sweeping plans to make us more energy independent, create millions of clean energy jobs, and close the carbon loophole.

Major Energy Environment Accomplishments During President Obama's First 100 Days:

• American Recovery Reinvestment Act's nearly $100 billion in green spending to get our economy back on track and create millions of new clean energy jobs.

• The President's Budget plan that makes clean energy and closing the carbon loophole a top priority, while also fully funding energy and environmental programs across the federal government.

• Declaring carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases a threat to public health and welfare and beginning the process of regulating the carbon pollution that causes global warming

• Appointing an energy and environment team composed of the best and brightest minds available, including Carol Browner (White House), Nancy Sutley (CEQ), Lisa Jackson (EPA), Steven Chu (Energy), Ken Salazar (Interior), Hilda Solis (Labor), Tom Vilsack (Agriculture) and many other overwhelmingly qualified candidates.

• Reevaluating the California clean cars waiver and outlining plans for a strong, environmentally sustainable domestic auto industry

• Protecting over 2 million acres of wilderness, rivers, and parks

• Canceling the Bush administration's last minute fire sale on public lands

• Scrapping the Bush administration's disastrous and destructive oil shale plans

• Affirming that science and the rule of law will once again lead

• Putting the U.S. back at the center of international climate negotiations

• Putting the disastrous Bush offshore drilling plan on hold

• Making renewable energy priority number one at the Department of the Interior

• Reversing the Bush rule on mountaintop removal coal mining and halting several individual mining permits

• Halted the Bush administration's last-minute assault on the Endangered Species Act