Below is the email that I received from the office of Colorado Senator Michael Bennet on 24 February 2022:
Dear Mr. Greenleaf,
Thank you for writing me regarding climate change. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.
Climate change is an urgent threat to our health, environment, national security, and economy. As extreme events and natural disasters like wildfires and drought become more frequent and severe, so do the effects that climate change has on our daily lives. Putting in place policies to cut climate pollution and increase resilience is not only critical to protecting Coloradans today, but for safeguarding our environment for future generations and capturing the economic opportunities of a 21st century clean energy economy.
In 2019, I joined 10 of my Democratic colleagues to establish and serve on the Senate Special Committee on the Climate Crisis. After dozens of meetings and public hearings with experts, labor unions, mayors, environmental justice communities, and tribal and native leaders, the Committee issued its main report in August 2020 titled The Case for Climate Action: Building a Clean Economy for the American People. This report calls for action to reduce emissions to achieve 100% global net-zero emissions no later than 2050; stimulate economic growth by increasing federal spending on climate action; and create at least 10 million new jobs. For more information about the Committee’s report, click here. In November 2019, I also joined the Senate Climate Solutions Caucus, a bipartisan group of Senators committed to crafting and advancing bipartisan solutions to climate change. I believe that this is an essential step in creating durable solutions to climate change in the Senate.
As your Senator, I have championed efforts to reduce climate pollution, promote renewable energy and energy efficiency, and protect against the impacts of climate change. This year, I reintroduced the Oil and Gas Bonding Reform and Orphaned Well Remediation Act and the PEOPLE Act to put people to work cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells, strengthen bonding protections, and expand opportunities for local input into lease sales on public lands. I also reintroduced the CORE Act to bolster our outdoor recreation economy and protect over 400,000 acres of public lands in Colorado, as well as reintroducing legislation to restore protections to the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain and prevent oil and gas exploration and development activities. Last Congress, I led a bipartisan bill to provide a tax credit to help families and businesses make investments that will make their homes and businesses safer and more resilient in the face of natural disasters like wildfires and flooding. I also support efforts to set a national goal of conserving 30% of U.S. lands and oceans by 2030. This ambitious plan is an important roadmap to protecting our wildlife and addressing the climate crisis. In the 2018 Senate Farm Bill, the Agriculture Committee included several of my amendments addressing conservation and soil health, forest management, and supporting rural clean energy. For a complete list of my priorities that were included in the 2018 Farm Bill, click here.
I am eager to work with the Biden Administration to rectify the previous Administration’s harmful actions to weaken and eliminate U.S. initiatives to combat climate change and to work together on new policies to cut climate pollution, increase resilience, and create jobs and economic opportunities, especially in communities where it is needed most. Shortly after taking office, President Biden advanced a number of important executive actions to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad. This included rejoining the landmark Paris Climate Agreement, assembling world leaders at an international climate summit where he pledged to cut climate pollution in half by 2030 on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050, and establishing Interagency Working Groups focused on key issues like economic revitalization in coal communities. He has also begun working to restore scientific integrity and transparency at federal agencies, and advancing policies to build the infrastructure needed for a clean energy future, while creating good paying union jobs and prioritizing equity and environmental justice. Following the President’s executive actions, I joined my colleagues in a letter to the Administration to emphasize the importance of accurately evaluating the cost of carbon pollution to strengthen our interagency response to the climate crisis. In February 2021, I released a discussion draft of legislation to mitigate the effects of threats to our public health that climate change poses. In April, I joined my Senate colleagues to reverse the Trump Administration’s harmful rollback of rules to limit powerful methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. I spoke on the Senate floor about the need to sensible [sic] methane policy that will protect our health and environment, while creating jobs and spurring innovation.
If you have any further questions or need assistance finding accurate information, my offices are here to help.
For more information about my priorities as a U.S. Senator, I invite you to visit my website at http://bennet.senate.gov/. Again, thank you for contacting me.
Sincerely,
Michael F. Bennet
United States Senator
My only gripe with this letter: he doesn't endorse a carbon fee & dividend scheme, which he's spoken of favorably on several occasions. I suspect that this has something to do with the political consequences associated with gas prices that have risen recently, & more particularly, further possible increases arising from the Russian war against Ukraine. But I remain cautiously optimistic.
