FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 3, 2016
CONTACT: Bill Bradlee
(510) 444-4891, [email protected]
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will host a public hearing in Chicago to gather feedback on EPA’s proposed details for the Clean Energy Incentive Program (CEIP). Part of the Clean Power Plan, the CEIP is a “matching fund” program that helps states invest early in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects that are implemented in disadvantaged communities. It helps states meet their Clean Power Plan goals while encouraging low-income access to clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.
Interfaith Power & Light is encouraged by this program. Poor communities are disproportionately affected by climate change impacts, and must be included in climate solutions. And states and communities must move rapidly to cleaner energy if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change.
“As people of faith, we are called to care for Creation and also to serve justice. Global warming is a serious thereat to the future of the planet. And it is the most vulnerable among us – children, the elderly, and low-income Americans – who are disproportionately harmed by carbon pollution. The EPA is doing the right thing by targeting clean energy programs to benefit the people in America who need them most,” said Susan Stephenson, executive director of Interfaith Power & Light.
“Interfaith Power & Light (IPL) and affiliates work in some of the communities most impacted by pollution from power plants. In Chicago we are seeing the human face of power plant pollution, from asthma to cancer to heart disease. We have a moral obligation to prioritize the benefits of the Clean Power Plan to these communities first,” said Rev. Brian Sauder, executive director of Faith in Place, the Illinois affiliate of Interfaith Power & Light.
Interfaith Power & Light’s network of 18,000 congregations is proud to support the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. We are grateful for the EPA’s work today. Now states and utilities must move expeditiously as we race to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.
