June 16, 2010

Dear Senator,

On behalf of clean energy business leaders throughout New England, the New England Clean Energy Council is asking you to continue to provide leadership to enact comprehensive climate and energy legislation this session. As the disaster unfolds in the Gulf, this is the time for bold action, not a stripped-down energy bill. We must move decisively to wean ourselves off dirty fossil fuels for the sake of our economy. And it is only through comprehensive energy and climate legislation that we can put in place the necessary policies, incentives and drivers across the full portfolio of private and public sector assets to develop and grow our 21st century clean energy economy, and stimulate widespread job creation.

The New England region has enormous innovation resources waiting to be tapped to accelerate the development and growth of a clean energy economy. This sector is one of the few areas of growth in the region and has potential to create tens of thousands of jobs in this decade. Just as importantly, the clean energy sector is developing new renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency solutions, and other innovations that can displace imported oil, improve our balance of payments, drive the regional cluster with spillover economic growth, and help New England and the U.S. be a leader in supplying clean energy technologies to markets around the world.

The Council represents 175 of the New England region’s leading clean energy companies, venture investors, law firms, financial and educational institutions, industry associations, utilities, labor representatives, and commercial consumers. Over the past year, this community has reached out to our elected officials across the aisle to make the case for comprehensive climate and energy legislation. We know that significant private capital has remained on the sideline since the recession, and our country’s clean energy investments lag numerous other countries. We have dozens of examples across our region of promising technologies in university labs or in early-stage companies that are at risk without the policies that will drive private and public sector investment and accelerate market adoption. Without comprehensive climate and energy legislation, these emerging energy innovations will miss their opportunity to address global markets, or more and more of these entrepreneurs will face the choice of growing their companies elsewhere.

Now is the time to act. Between the tragic spill in the Gulf and the mine disaster in West Virginia, Americans have spent months dealing with the consequences of our continued reliance on fossil fuels. There can be no better time to ask Americans to turn away from an increasingly outdated way of powering our economy – it is impossible to ignore the real costs of our fossil-fuel addiction.

Every day the Senate fails to act, we put our economy and our future at risk. China is now spending $12 million every hour on clean energy technology, and is well on its way to owning the rapidly growing clean-energy market. Technologies pioneered in New England are now being capitalized upon by other nations, while American businesses -- unsure of the direction policy will take and lacking clear market signals and a price on carbon -- lag behind, losing out on the world’s next great transformative economic sector.

Energy-only legislation is not enough. Research shows that a comprehensive climate and clean energy bill will cut US oil imports and greenhouse gas emissions much faster and further, boosting employment higher than an energy-only bill. A comprehensive climate and energy bill, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will slash our budget deficit by $21 billion by 2019. In comparison, an energy-only bill means more oil imports, more greenhouse gas emissions, and fewer new jobs - and according to Congressional Budget Office estimates available at www.cbo.gov - an energy-only bill would actually increase the budget deficit. To us, the choice is clear.

Studies show comprehensive climate and energy legislation could mean tens of thousands of new jobs across New England. We need those jobs. In order to create them, business owners need the kind of market certainty that only putting a price on carbon emissions can give.

For the sake of our region and our nation, we are asking you to stand up and support comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. Now is the moment, and we urge you to act.

Sincerely,