Sierra Club Statement in Response to State of the Union Address, Jan. 20, 2015

“When it comes to the climate crisis, the President knows the stakes, and tonight, he underscored the urgency of the problem and his commitment to climate action for our children’s future. To meet the greatest challenge of our generation, we can and we must end our dependence not just on foreign oil, but all fossil fuels.  We can indeed set our sights higher than a single oil pipeline. 

“Under this presidency, clean energy is growing faster than ever and providing more safe, clean, reliable, and affordable power to more Americans than ever. But we should not and cannot stop there. We must accelerate the transition from dirty fossil fuels to clean energy as quickly as possible. Nothing short of our children’s health is at risk.

“The Obama Administration has made historic progress to influence international climate action and protect our air, water, lands, and climate.  We can do better than international trade agreements that are shrouded in secrecy and allow foreign corporations to gut American clean air and water safeguards.