U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

Friday, June 6, 2008

CONTACT:Stephanie Valencia – 202-494-8790
Cody Wertz – 303-350-0032

Senator Salazar Votes to Move Ahead with Global Warming Debate

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, United States Senator Ken Salazar issued the following statement on his vote to move ahead with the debate on the Climate Security Act, a global warming bill that the Senate took up this week. Senator Salazar supported a motion to end a filibuster and allow debate and consideration of amendments to proceed. By a vote of 48 to 36, the motion fell 12 votes short of the 60 votes needed for it to be agreed to, stalling progress on the bill.

“Global warming, caused by carbon pollution, poses a real and growing threat to water supplies, agriculture, and our way of life in Colorado and the West. It is a threat we must confront immediately with smart solutions that reduce carbon pollution.

“The bill we are considering needs to be improved before I will support it. I believe we needed to move ahead with the debate and consider amendments in an orderly fashion.

“To improve the bill, I had filed several amendments, including amendments that will increase the bill’s investment in renewable energy and clean energy technologies, help rural electric co-ops meet the new carbon emission standards, and reduce bureaucratic barriers to the development of clean energy technologies. I am also working with my colleagues to allow farmers and ranchers to be rewarded for using their lands to capture and store carbon. They can and should be a part of the solution. In addition, my colleagues and I are working to increase the bill’s investment in the carbon capture and sequestration technologies that will allow our nation’s abundant supply of coal to play a needed role in our clean energy future.

“We need to progress with the debate on this bill so we can consider these amendments, improve the bill, and find a bipartisan way to reduce carbon pollution and grow our clean energy economy.”

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