We will maintain a "green wall' of resistance
Statement
Today is a sad day for our country and the planet. Trump just announced that he is going to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord, the landmark international agreement negotiated by President Obama to keep global temperatures from increasing above 2°Celcius.
The Paris Agreement is built upon sound science and promising market forces that will move the world toward a clean energy future. Every country in the world -- except Syria and Nicaragua -- signed on and made substantial commitments to reduce carbon pollution. Leaving this agreement is a decision to surrender our country's climate leadership, and the economic opportunities that come with it, to China.
On the West Coast, Oregon, California and Washington have long led the charge for climate action. Together, we have built a "green wall" that will resist any assault by the Trump administration and its fossil fuel cronies to ignore the threat of climate change.
Oregon passed the nation's first coal-to-clean law to eliminate out-of-state coal-fired electricity by 2030 while increasing renewable energy to 50 percent of the state's energy portfolio by 2040. In California, aggressive state-wide carbon reduction goals require a 40 percent reduction of carbon pollution below 1990 levels by 2030. Washington state's Clean Air Rule follows suit by effectively putting a price on carbon.
Oregonians, Californians and Washingtonians understand the need to act now. That's why I'm leading my colleagues in urging the governors of these states to redouble our efforts to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. If Trump won't provide climate leadership, then the West Coast will.
Leaving the Paris Climate Accord is indefensible. It is a reckless decision by Trump that will subject the world to rising sea levels, stronger storms, and harsher droughts. Protecting the environment is a challenge that we must embrace fully as a moral responsibility to fellow creatures that share our planet, to vulnerable human populations who contribute the least to climate change but will suffer the most, and to our children and future generations.
Oregonians will stand firm. Together, we will resist any assault on our efforts to combat climate change.
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