Letter
Letter to Senate on Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Act, May 29, 2019
Letter from Bishop Frank J. Dewane, Chairman, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development to Senate on Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Act, May 29, 2019
On behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, I write in support of the Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Act (S. 520). This legislation is an important bipartisan initiative that promotes energy efficiency for nonprofit organizations, including places of worship and faith organizations.
As improvements are made in energy generation across America, we must also focus on combatting the throwaway culture that wastes so many of our God-given resources. Wasteful lifestyles pollute our waters, overwhelm our landfills and energy is at times wasted in our places of work, recreation and worship. Energy efficiency is an important part of the equation for achieving a more sustainable world. In his encyclical on ecology, Pope Francis specifically called for investments “in methods of construction and renovating buildings which improve their energy efficiency” (Laudato Si', no. 26). The Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Act is an excellent example of the way in which the U.S. government can foster integral ecology and sustainability for the American people.