WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 23, 2012) Following the announcement of energy proposals from leading Republicans, Yvette Pena Lopes, Deputy Director of the BlueGreen Alliance, released the following statement:

“The Republican leadership in Congress’ lack of support for proven job-creating tax incentives for clean energy—like the Production Tax Credit for wind energy—are costing our country jobs already. Now, we’ve seen plans for America’s energy future from the Republican Governors Association and from Governor Romney. Both those plans have a lot of smoke but not much fire and neither has shown a past commitment to a clean energy future. They focus on the past at the expense of our collective future.

“We can and should be energy independent.  The obvious was stated today.  But to truly achieve that and to build a strong and competitive economy, we need to invest in and support policies that promote the growth of cleaner energy alternatives here in America. We have—over the past few years since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—seen a huge jump in terms of energy generation capacity, energy efficiency, and job growth from clean energy, as well as reduced carbon pollution and less energy waste.

“We should not move backward on this commitment to a better economic and environmental future for generations of Americans to come.”