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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Bill
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State Rep. Greg Vitali |
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Vitali introduces bill to fund local global warming action plans
Legislation encourages local action on greenhouse gas emissions
HARRISBURG, Feb. 7 – State Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, introduced legislation today that would offer financial assistance to local governments in Pennsylvania to develop and implement local greenhouse gas inventories and climate change action plans.
“Global warming is the most important environmental issue facing the planet today, and it will take every level of government to ensure we are taking the right steps to limit our greenhouse gas emissions,” Vitali said. “Governor Rendell has offered the administration’s commitment to addressing the global warming issue on the state level, and the federal government has finally acknowledged the need to provide federal policies regarding this issue. The bill I introduced would allow local entities to do their part in helping solve this crisis.”
Vitali’s legislation (H.B. 334) would create a Municipal Climate Change Grant program in Pennsylvania. The program, to be administered by the Department of Environmental Protection, would provide grants of up to $20,000 to help local governments move forward on inventorying their greenhouse gas emissions and creating municipal climate change action plans.
The inventories would establish how much greenhouse gas emissions are produced by each sector of a community – municipal operations, energy production, residential, businesses, etc. – and provide a baseline against which to measure future greenhouse gas reduction efforts. The action plans would lay out strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions across those sectors, as well as specific targets to be reached.
Vitali said a report released Feb. 2 by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change echoes the need for immediate and comprehensive policies targeting global warming. The report predicts global temperatures to rise by almost 12 degrees Fahrenheit and sea levels to rise up to 23 inches by the end of the century. Also, the report states that global warming plays an integral part in the development of stronger hurricanes such as Hurricane Katrina, which left New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast in ruins.
“The IPCC report represents the most authoritative science in the world on the subject of global warming,” Vitali said. “We need to take this issue seriously and do everything we can on all levels of government to ensure we right this ship before it’s too late.”
Vitali’s legislation has 24 Democratic and Republican co-sponsors.
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