Inslee Response to State of the Union Address

Statement

Inslee response to State of the Union Address

U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and co-author of a book released in the fall entitled "Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy," made the following statement following the president's State of the Union address on Monday evening:

"Tonight the president focused on the economy, but failed to announce any proposals that would capitalize on the greatest economic opportunity of our generation: taming global warming.

"According to some estimates, as many as 3.3 million high wage American jobs could be created with a federal investment of $30 billion a year for 10 years to research and develop green technologies that would wean our nation off fossil fuels. That's a fraction of the $134 billion we spent in 2007 on the war in Iraq.

"If nothing else, I hope the president caps his presidency by signing into law a cap on greenhouse-gas pollution. It should be similar to a so-called cap and trade program for sulfur dioxide enacted under the first President Bush, which has been hugely successful in limiting emissions of this acid rain pollutant.

"By closing the loophole that allows industry to dump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for free, a cap and trade system would help spur private investment in the clean-energy technologies that will address global warming and reinvigorate our nation's struggling manufacturing sector."

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