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Clean Energy News
For Immediate Release:
2006-11-08
For More Information:
Contact Jennette Gayer (404) 892-3573 Environment Georgia Congratulates Lewis, Johnson, and Bishop for Leadership on Clean Energy
Atlanta, GA—Environment Georgia today congratulated Congressman John Lewis, who will represent the 5th District, Congressman-elect Hank Johnson, who will represent the 4th District, and Congressman Sanford Bishop, who will represent the 2nd District in the U.S. Congress next year, for supporting the New Energy Future platform to move America beyond fossil fuels and toward a cleaner energy future. “Georgians want leaders who will work to solve our energy problems, the good news is in Georgia and around the country politicians from both parties have committed to build a New Energy Future,” said Jill Franklin, Organizer with Environment Georgia. “We look forward to working with these Congressmen to put American innovation to work to build a New Energy Future in the 110th Congress,” said Franklin.
Last night’s returns demonstrate that the American people want Congress to take action now to move Americans toward a new, cleaner energy future. Candidates across the country and across the political spectrum in the nation’s most competitive races endorsed the New Energy Future platform, showing that the platform is not only good policy but also good politics. In the 50 key races targeted by the New Energy Future campaign, 37 major party candidates endorsed the New Energy Future platform, with at least 18 and as many as 21 candidates winning.
Environment Georgia was joined by organizations across the country in calling on all Congressional candidates in the 2006 elections to deliver on the promise of a New Energy Future by committing to: • Reduce U.S. dependence on oil by saving one-third of the oil we use today by 2025; • Harness clean, renewable, homegrown energy sources for at least one quarter of all energy needs by 2025; • Save energy with high performance homes, buildings and appliances so that by 2025 we use 10 percent less energy than we do today; and • Invest in a New Energy Future by tripling research and development funding for the energy-saving and renewable technologies we need to achieve these goals.
New Energy Future organizers, activists, and volunteers worked to raise the profile of energy issues in Georgia during the campaign, asking the candidates where they stood on energy issues at campaign events, debates, and by collecting petition signatures.
Candidates endorsing the platform came from across the political spectrum, including Republican conservatives like Pennsylvania’s Rick Santorum, Minnesota’s Gil Gutknect, and Georgia’s Mac Collins, progressive Democrats like California’s Lynn Woolsey and Maryland’s Ben Cardin, and moderates of both parties like Georgia’s Sanford Bishop and Pennsylvania’s Curt Weldon. Endorsers likely to join the newly minted Democratic House majority leadership included Maryland’s Steny Hoyer and Pennsylvania’s John Murtha.
In several races both major party candidates endorsed the platform, including:
“We will need bold leadership to solve our energy problems,” said Franklin. “By endorsing the New Energy Future platform, these candidates have shown their support for moving America in a new direction that puts our national security, our environment, the global climate and our children’s futures above Big Oil and other powerful interests” continued Franklin.
More than 185 candidates in 39 states endorsed the New Energy Future platform. The full list of candidates who signed the New Energy Future goals is available at http://uspirg.org/NEF.html.
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Environment Georgia is a statewide non-profit, non-partisan environmental advocacy organization
New Energy Future Endorsements among the 50 Targeted Races (winning candidates listed in italics):
*winning candidate not yet announced as of time of writing
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