The Progressive

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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Rose Braz, (510) 435-6809, rbraz@biologicaldiversity.org

Wisconsin's Largest Cities Join Others Nationwide Urging Feds to Use Clean Air Act to Slow Global Warming

Wisconsin's two largest cities, Milwaukee and Madison, have joined cities in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington in going on record urging the Environmental Protection Agency and President Barack Obama to move swiftly to use and enforce the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

MILWAUKEE, Wis.

Wisconsin's two largest cities, Milwaukee and Madison, have joined cities in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington in going on record urging the Environmental Protection Agency and President Barack Obama to move swiftly to use and enforce the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. In passing their resolutions, these cities join the Center for Biological Diversity's national Clean Air Cities campaign.

"In Milwaukee we live on the shores of 20 percent of the world's freshwater supply, so we know we have to do our part -- along with other Great Lakes cities like Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo and Toronto -- to preserve this precious resource. When it comes to clean air, we have to do our part along with every other city in the world to keep it breathable and to keep the climate it houses sustainable for human habitation," said Milwaukee Alderman Nik Kovak, one of the sponsors of the Milwaukee resolution. "To make our efforts at a more sustainable future effective, we need a strong partner in the federal government. Milwaukee is proud to join the growing chorus of American cities demanding that the EPA follow its own laws and the orders of the courts so that our grandchildren's grandchildren can be as prosperous and populous as we are."

"This year's warm winter temperatures are a reminder that global warming is setting in and time is running out for us to make significant cuts in carbon pollution," said Rose Braz, the Center's climate campaign director. "Cities around the country know the Clean Air Act is our most important tool not only for slowing global warming, but also for protecting our communities from the devastating public-health impacts of other pollution."

The Madison City Council unanimously approved a resolution spearheaded by Council Member Marsha Rummel urging action on global warming and in support of the Clean Air Act on Tuesday. The Milwaukee City Council approved a similar resolution on Feb. 7, 2012.
Similar resolutions have been approved in Seattle, Wash.; Albany, N.Y.; Tucson, Ariz.; Boone, N.C.; Pittsburgh, Penn.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Cambridge, Mass.; and Arcata, Richmond, Berkeley, Oxnard and Santa Monica, Calif. Several other cities around the country will also be considering resolutions over the next few months.

Learn more about the Center's Clean Air Cities campaign and get the facts about the Clean Air Act.

At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.

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