Letter
Letter to Senate regarding Protecting Nonprofit Energy-Efficiency Program and a National Carbon Standard
Letter to Senate regarding Protecting Nonprofit Energy-Efficiency Program and a National Carbon Standard, signed by Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski, Chairman, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, February 3, 2016
I am writing on behalf of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). As you consider the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 (S. 2012), I urge you to support Section 1004 (based on S. 600, the Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Act) and to oppose amendments that seek to undermine or reverse efforts to implement a national carbon standard for existing power plants.
In his encyclical on ecology, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis reminds us that “[t]he climate is a common good” and that, “[w]hether believers or not, we are agreed today that the earth is essentially a shared inheritance, whose fruits are meant to benefit everyone.” (nos.23, 93). During his recent visit to the United States, he echoed this call: "Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a 'culture of care' and 'an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.'"
The U.S. bishops stand united with Pope Francis in his call to protect creation. In our statement, Renewing the Earth, we stressed that “[a]s individuals, as institutions, as a people, we need a change of heart to preserve and protect the planet for our children and for generations yet unborn.”