Issue Position: Environment

Issue Position

Issue Position: Environment

Senator Reed is a staunch advocate for protecting our natural resources. Reed consistently earns high marks from leading environmental advocacy groups. Reed understands that a clean environment is important to our state's health, economy, and quality of life. Reed's conservation efforts have helped clean up and preserve Rhode Island's open spaces, beaches, and the Narragansett Bay. On the national level, Senator Reed believes we must protect our natural wilderness, which is why he opposes oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and supports legislation designating it part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. In an effort to protect our planet from the dangers of climate change, Reed cosponsored the Clean Power Act which seeks to require reductions in carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen, and mercury emissions from both new and older power plants. Senator Reed has also called on the President to take steps to increase fuel efficiency of automobiles, create a mandatory emissions reduction program, and support a renewable portfolio standard requiring 20 percent of the nation's electricity to be derived from renewable energy by 2020.

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