Jan 21 2010

A Question of Leadership

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

When is the last time Corporate America, Big Labor and the environmental movement agreed on anything?

Try today.

An ad running in today's Wall Street Journal, and slated to run on the Politico web site as well, brings together leaders from all three groups, along with representatives from the faith-based community, in unprecedented support of "bi-partisan, national energy and climate legislation that increases our security and limits emissions, as it preserves and creates jobs."

The signers include a Who's Who of top corporations, including PG&E Corporation, BP, Campbell's, Con Edison, Dow, Duke Energy, Dupont, Ford, GE, GM, Honeywell, Shell, Siemens, Toyota and Weyerhauser.

Also signing are the cream of the labor movement, including the AFL-CIO, SEIU and United Steelworkers.

Major environmental NGOs endorsing the call to bipartisan action include Environmental Defense Fund, Nature Conservancy and NRDC.

Last but not least, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and Evangelical Environmental Network represent sectors of the faith-based community in support of national action on climate change.

As the signers note,"America faces a once-in-a-century opportunity to lower greenhouse gas emissions and become the world's leader in a burgeoning clean energy economy."

That's not an opportunity to be missed--but it's unfortunately also not an opportunity that can be taken for granted. In the wake of Senator-elect Scott Brown's upset victory in Massachusetts, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said "there's minimal enthusiasm" among members of his party for climate change legislation.

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