Defending the Environment

The League of Women Voters has been at the forefront of the environmental protection movement for decades, consistently supporting legislation to preserve our nation’s natural resources and protect our public health. We support legislation that seeks to protect our country from the physical, economic and public health effects of climate change while also providing pathways to economic prosperity. 

The League believes that averting the damaging effects of climate change requires action from both individuals and governments at the local, state, national and international levels. By raising public awareness of the causes and likely impacts of climate change, helping citizens learn what they can do to protect the environment and building broad support for effective climate solutions, we can help put our country -- and our planet -- on the path to a sustainable future. 

We believe that a path toward a clean energy future will strengthen our economy by opening up millions of jobs to Americans while also rescuing America from its dependence on fossil fuels, reducing threats to our health, protecting the natural resources that we depend upon for survival and creating millions of domestic jobs. The League’s environmental work falls into the three categories below: 

Global Climate Change – Climate change is the greatest environmental challenge of our generation. The League supports legislative solutions, including setting caps on greenhouse gas and carbon pollution, encouraging conservation and renewable energy and investing in a new clean energy economy. We also support strong executive branch action under the Clean Air Act to cut industrial carbon pollution from new and existing power plants, which are the largest source of industrial carbon pollution in the US.  The League works to build grassroots support for action on climate change nationally and at the state and local levels in order to avoid irrevocable damage to our planet. 

Clean Air Defense – We work to protect our air quality by advocating for federal air pollution controls on industrial processes, government installations, fuels and motor vehicles. League members across the country actively campaign to urge the President and Congress to lead the world in the fight against climate change by controlling carbon pollution from new and existing power plants. The League presses for full implementation of the Clean Air Act of 1970 and for strengthening amendments, while fighting against attempts to weaken it. 

Clean Energy – The League advocates for legislation to improve energy efficiency throughout the economy and improve pollution control, including shifting to renewable energy, establishing federal fuel-efficiency standards and opposing oil drilling in environmentally sensitive areas. The League opposes the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which threatens to pollute huge drinking water reserves, increase the world’s dependence on dirty oil and increase the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Preservation of a healthy environment is a top priority, and state Leagues have taken the lead in working to block fracking and dangerous mining processes that threaten to pollute natural resources in their communities.