December 03, 2015 03:23 PM UTC

Bennet Votes For CO's Public Health; Gardner Supports Polluters

•  
• by: ConservationColorado

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

It’s fairly common for people to feel disenchanted with politics these days. Unfortunately, they’re not unjustified; our elected officials don’t always behave in accordance with the values we expect of them.

However, sometimes we get to feel genuine pride for our politicians. For us, one of those came a week ago when Senator Michael Bennet voted against a reckless move in the U.S. Senate to dismantle the Clean Power Plan using a little-used parliamentary maneuver called a Congressional Review Act or CRA.

We were thrilled to hear about this decision; thwarting the Clean Power Plan would have set our nation back years in our effort to reduce carbon pollution.

That’s why Conservation Colorado today launched a $325,000 digital and television ad campaign praising Senator Bennet. His vote shows that he understands our need to protect Coloradans and their public health from carbon pollution.

[Watch the video(s) after the jump]

Our other Colorado senator, Cory Gardner, failed to show that concern; disappointingly, he voted in favor of the CRA. The majority in the House of Representatives also voted for it, making Bennet’s choice even more notable.

Further, Senator Bennet’s leadership comes at a time when big polluters and their congressional allies are trying to undermine progress to combat climate change. For example, some politicians have seized on the United Nations summit on climate change in Paris. Unfortunately, their fixation is on exploiting the summit to criticize President Obama and anyone else who prioritizes acting on climate rather than as an opportunity to come together for the sake of future generations.

Even more upsetting, the ongoing coverage of Exxon Corporation’s deceitful behavior throughout the past few decades is revealing a truly disturbing pattern of deliberately misrepresenting the facts.

At a time when so many individuals are proving unwilling to stand up for action on climate change for our future generations, it’s good to see a Colorado senator do just that.

We urge Coloradans to contact and thank Senator Bennet, at www.ConservationCO.org/ThankBennet, for standing up for clean air and public health. Backup for the television ad is available here, and backup for the digital ad is available here.