A deeply-divided Supreme Court just handed corporate polluters and their cronies a small but symbolic victory: It has temporarily halted implementation of America's Clean Power Plan. This is an unprecedented move by the Supreme Court.
However, this pause does not dismantle America's Clean Power Plan. The plan is not in jeopardy, not by a long shot. We remain confident that the plan will be upheld -- on its merits. America's governors should keep working out the details of their states' compliance to the plan. After all, it was the Supreme Court that said EPA had an obligation to address climate change.
Climate change is not going away. Neither is action on climate change. Neither is the energy revolution underway all over the country. We are unstoppable.
Our children and grandchildren need our protection. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is not letting corporate polluters stop him:
"We remain committed to have the cleanest air in the nation...and build upon the great strides we have made as a state...to protect our public health and environment."
But the Supreme Court decision does send a strong signal: the polluter tactic -- honed over decades -- is to spend millions of dollars holding up progress in court, wasting time and money instead of cleaning up. Polluter dollars have even infiltrated the offices of state Attorneys General, in an effort to stop action on climate change.
If the dollars spent by polluters were actually used in a moral way, we wouldn't still have mercury in our food, arsenic in our air, and greenhouse gases disrupting our climate.
For years, mothers and fathers across the country have showed strong support for the Environmental Protection Agency's historic plan to cut down the greenhouse gas pollution that is causing climate disruption.
For years, parents have demonstrated that we want America to take global leadership in moving us into a clean energy future.
American families do not support corporate polluters -- who have been making record profits, and getting a free ride.
Corporate polluters don't pay for the damage they do to our health, or to the natural world we love, and depend upon. We -taxpayers -- pay for polluters' damage. We pay for polluter damage with our doctors' bills, as asthma rates sky rocket. We pay for polluter damage with higher insurance rates -- as the weather gets weirder and more dangerous.
And we, the people, actually pay to support the fossil fuel industry, at historically high levels, by giving them tax breaks and subsidies.
This is a dysfunctional, and dangerous, situation. It is shocking to consider that polluter politics have stained the very fabric of our highest court.
And it is infuriating.
The stakes have never been higher -- or clearer.
We will continue to fight for what should be a basic right for all Americans: Clean air. A clean climate.
We thank you, our members who have demanded action, for your work. And we thank Administrator McCarthy and her team at EPA for tackling the incredibly tough job of cleaning up our climate pollution.
We will not give up in demanding action on climate pollution. Our work is not done until our children are safe.