We have a lot to be thankful for this year. These are some of the folks who are responsible for recent good news about the environment:
Governors Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Bill Richardson of New Mexico -- for making their states the latest to pass California's clean car standards, the best bet yet to force Detroit to stop putting outmoded technology in its cars, trucks, and SUVs. This could save the American auto industry, American jobs, and the world's climate.
Outgoing Colorado Governor Bill Owens -- for requesting that the Bush Administration protect the 4.1 million remaining acres of wild forest in his state from roads and logging.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals -- for reinstating Bill Clinton's roadless protection rule, which will ensure that the still-wild areas of our national forests in all of our states will be protected, even if Governors don't ask for it or the Bush Administration doesn't want to go along with the Governors' requests.
The voters of California, Washington, and Idaho -- for rejecting deceitful proposals to strip communities of their ability to protect themselves from inappropriate development and land use. These ballot measures were sold to the voters as an effort to limit abuses of eminent domain -- government taking of private property -- but were actually designed to prevent zoning and environmental protection laws from being enforced. Voters in these three states saw through this ploy and voted "no!"
The City Council of Springfield Illinois -- for agreeing that in planning to meet its future power needs, the city would finish construction of a coal-fired power plant, but would match that with a commitment to reduce its overall greenhouse pollution and to triple the amount of wind energy being used in the State of Illinois.
Jerry McNerney, the new Congressman from California's 11th district -- for persevering when the Washington establishment told him that he simply couldn't possibly defeat former House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo.
Representatives of the utilities departments of six California cities (which purchase 75 percent of the electric power generated by the coal-burning Intermountain Power Plant, located in Delta, Utah) -- for abandoning their efforts to renew their current coal power purchase agreements, which expire in 2027, prior to January 1, 2007, in favor of committing funds to study ways to reduce the plant's greenhouse gas emissions in the near future.
The voters of Salt Lake City -- for continuing their commitment to finding transportation alternatives and voting to expand their city's commitment to mass transit with quarter percent sales tax.
Kansas Governor Kathy Sebelius -- for pledging that boosting renewable energy will be a defining goal of her second term, saying that Kansas "can be a national leader in alternative energy."
New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici, the outgoing Chair of the Senate Energy Committee, for agreeing to allow the Senate to pass legislation by Congressman Tom Udall to protect the Valle Vidal in New Mexico from oil and gas drilling. Domenici had been holding up the proposal, apparently to avoid the charge of hypocrisy, since he was supporting Richard Pombo's effort to open the California and Florida coasts for such drilling -- but the election results (and Pombo's defeat) seem to have caused a welcome change of heart.
The Puerto Rico House of Delegates -- for voting 38 to 10 in favor of the permanent protection of the Northeast Ecological Corridor, the top priority of the Sierra Club's Puerto Rico chapter. This vote required the House to stand up to very powerful development and hotel interests that normally get their way in the island commonwealth.
Conergy AG, the world's largest solar power integration company, and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell -- for coming to a deal in which Conergy will locate the North American headquarters of its financial subsidiary, Voltwerk, and the East Coast operations of its solar engineering and installation subsidiary, SunTechnics, in Pennsylvania.
To voters all over the country -- for throwing out an unprecedented number of bums!
And finally thanks to the thousands of Sierra Club members, activists, leaders and staff -- for patient, tenacious work over the past year, and in some cases, the past decade, that laid the groundwork for steps forward, towards a future our children will thank us for.