Environment
![Environment Environment](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121107203126im_/http://towns.house.gov/sites/towns.house.gov/files/styles/section_front_boilerplate/public/energy-environment.jpg)
Environmental issues are important to our district and to my work in Congress.
Congressman Towns knows that protecting the environment ensures a healthier Brooklyn. He has fought alongside his colleagues in the House to ensure cleaner air and water, while allowing for economic opportunities through the development of green technology.
Congressman Towns, a co-sponsored the following, which was signed into law on February 17, 2009:
- The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Makes historic investments of more than $69 billion in clean energy: modernizing the electricity grid to make it more efficient and reliable; tax incentives to spur energy savings and create clean energy jobs; and a significant commitment to clean energy research, and to develop advanced battery technology. Estimated to create more than 700,000 jobs by 2012, nearly double renewable electricity over four years (instead of increasing only 6 percent), and save consumers up to $98 a year in energy costs.
Rep. Towns has supported the following measures that passed in the U.S. House of Representatives:
- H.R. 2454, The American Clean Energy and Security Act: Creates millions of clean energy jobs by investing in clean, green technology. It also caps carbon emissions, mandates energy-saving standards for appliances and buildings, and protects consumers from energy cost increases.
Congressman Towns co-sponsored the following important environmental bills in the House of Representatives:
- HR 1925, The American Red Rock Wilderness Act of 2009: Designates as wilderness certain Federal portions of the red rock canyons of the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin Deserts in Utah for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.
- HR 2455, International Whale Conservation and Protection Act of 2009: Promotes international whale conservation, protection, and research.
- HR 3381, Protect America's Wildlife Act: Amends the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 to establish additional prohibitions on shooting wildlife from aircraft.
- HR 1310, Clean Water Protection Act: Strengthens the Clean Water Act to protect water quality and the quality of life for those affected by mountaintop mining.