Environment
CFC Priorities for the 2009 Legislative Session
Implement the recommendations of the Global Warming Commission that we created last session with policies that will not only protect us from the threat of a warming planet but also reduce our energy dependence, create new high-wage jobs and improve our economy.
Create an Arkansas Water Resource Commission to study threats facing Arkansas’ water and water consumers, develop solutions and bring different stakeholders together. Arkansas needs a new state water management plan that represents the needs of everyone.
Update! - April 2
Update! - March 6
Vote NO on HB1026
Accomplishments of the CFC in the 2007 Arkansas General Assembly
We were successful with our top environmental priority, the creation of an Arkansas Governor's Commission on Global Warming. Global Warming is an issue that affects everyone and threatens the very sustainability of our quality of life within the next generation if not addressed in a proactive way. This is one of the first truly practical steps toward dealing with climate change on the state level and the Governor and the Legislature should be commended.
We supported an expansion of the "net metering" concept that makes renewable energy more cost effective for consumers.
We opposed bills which sought to give oil companies less responsibility for spills and several other "anti-environmental" bills which only serve to diminish our natural resources. The bills we opposed were either amended to more acceptable forms or defeated.
Accomplishments of the CFC in the 2005 Arkansas General Assembly
Defeated a surprise bill that would have gutted protections for central Arkansas’ drinking water. The defeat was largely due to a friendly a Speaker of the House, backed by grassroots groups who mobilized quickly to lobby legislators and hold a rally on the Capitol steps. The Citizens First Congress mailed about 5,000 postcards on the issue and worked closely with Sierra Club, Arkansas Audubon and the Little Rock League of Women Voters who were taking the lead on the campaign
Monitored several other bad pieces of legislation, and one good one, but didn’t play a significant role. All the bad ones were defeated anyway, and the good one (to recycle mercury parts from cars) passed.
