RE: Support a strong Renewable Electricity Standard

Dear Senator ,

I urge you to support a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), also known as a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), requiring utilities to gradually increase their use of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and bioenergy to 20 percent of total power generation. Please help us move toward a cleaner energy future by co-sponsoring S. 427 and insisting that any national energy legislation must include a strong RES.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) found that a 20 percent RES would be affordable and achievable. A recent Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) study, Renewing America's Economy, found that a 20 percent standard would reduce demand for natural gas, lower natural gas and electricity prices and provide consumer savings of $49 billion by 2020. The standard would also boost the U.S. economy, creating more than 355,000 jobs in manufacturing, construction, operations, maintenance and other fields. This total is nearly double the number of jobs from generating the same amount of electricity from fossil fuels.

The UCS study also found that a national RES would help rural communities, providing $73 billion in capital investment, $16 billion in income to rural landowners for biomass energy supplies and wind power land leases, and $5 billion in property tax revenues to support local schools. U.S. power plant carbon dioxide emissions--a major contributor to global warming--would also be 15 percent lower in 2025 under a national renewable electricity standard of 20 percent. The same policy would reduce other pollutants from burning fossil fuels such as nitrogen oxides that produce smog and mercury.

Please act in the interest of a healthy American economy and environment by supporting S. 427 and demanding a strong RES in any national energy legislation.

Most Sincerely,

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