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Executive Summary
America
is at an energy crossroad. As a nation, we are dependent on fossil fuels at a
time of growing demand and dwindling supply. Meanwhile, fossil fuel use
continues to impose massive environmental and economic costs. Now our country
must choose between paying to continue the status quo and investing in a new
energy future.
The costs of continuing on our current energy path are
steep. American consumers and businesses already spend roughly $700 billion to
$1 trillion each year on coal, oil and natural gas, and suffer the incalculable
costs of pollution from fossil fuels through damage to our health and
environment. If America
continues along a business-asusual energy path, U.S. fossil fuel spending is likely
to grow, totaling an estimated $23 trillion between 2010 and 2030.
Policymakers in Washington,
D.C., and many states have
recently taken the first small steps toward a clean energy future, adopting
policies to encourage energy efficiency, ramp up the use of solar and wind power,
and curb global warming pollution. Now, with even bolder steps—such as a national
cap on global warming pollution and more ambitious targets for renewable energy
and energy efficiency—on the public agenda, powerful interests with a stake in
preserving the status quo have criticized strong clean energy policies as being
too expensive for the American public.
In fact, the reverse is true. The United States cannot afford to wait
to break our dependence on fossil fuels. The cost of fossil fuels to our
economy and our environment will continue to mount in the years to come unless
the nation takes bold steps now to embrace the benefits of a clean energy
future.
[Cont . . . see full report for more]
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