I want to contribute to creating jobs and lowering energy waste and pollution by investing in energy efficiency for my home. To this end the Home Star and Building Star energy efficiency investment programs leverage tax rebates with private investment.

Are you tired of your highways in California looking like a dumping ground? Do you want your state to be beautiful and clean so you can be proud of where you live? Then please sign this petition that we can submit to our local and state government to make them take action and clean up our roads and highways!

Southeastern Minnesota is the home to some of the state's most stunning landscape. The "bluff country" encompasses the tourist towns of Winona, Red Wing, and Lanesboro just to name a few... It is also the home of the Root River and the Root River State Bike Trail. My husband and I put all of our savings together last year, (making the leap from Chicago, IL to rural southeastern, MN) and bought our first home last year in Lanesboro. This year we learned about the ensuing frac mining that may take place in the region. We are terribly concerned that frac sand mining has the potential to devastate and contaminate the natural beauty that drew us here to the 'driftless' region in the first place. It could also curtail our livelihood as working artists and B & B owners, along with our fellow community members' livelihood, whose work is directly affiliated with the tourism industry.

A human health disaster is unfolding in Appalachian communities near mountaintop removal coal extraction sites.Four thousand excess deaths happen annually in mountaintop removal communities. Unborn babies are subjected to horrible birth defects. cancer, and heart disease rates are shockingly elevated. For the first time ever, a bill has been introduced in Congress that would end mountaintop removal and save innocent lives. The Appalachian Communities Health Emergency (A.C.H.E.) Act is the best hope Appalachian people have for a healthy, decent future. I live with my family near such sites. Your action can save lives.

American consumers have no choice when it comes to exposing their kids and families to these chemicals. California mandates their use in products like furniture and bedding (per TB117), and suppliers typically market those same products in all 50 states. These chemicals have been linked to disorders ranging from diabetes to hyperthyroidism, and cancer. They have been found in human breast milk and most children's bloodstreams. Chemical company lobbyists have so far successfully opposed efforts to eradicate the requirement.

The resistance to overhead transmission lines is immense, and is causing delays in much needed transmission upgrades, that will improve grid reliability and damage tolerance, reduce the need for new generation, and enable much greater utilization of wind power, solar power, and locally sited small generators (such as combined heat and power generation and other home energy systems). We need the transmission upgrades, but want these new lines to go underground. We ask that the US Department of Energy make it a priority to find a cost effective way to move large transmission lines underground, and that congress find a way to incentivize underground power transmission.

We have a lot of flat roofed buildings covered in tar shingles or metal. Adding green roofing will make the building more insulated from heat and cold, and improves air quality and storm water retention. Not to mention people can perhaps enjoy green spaces in urban areas. Here is more information about this process: http://www.greenroofs.com/Greenroofs101/economic.htm

Auto makers have had enough time and made enough money. It's time all car's run 55 or 60 miles to the gallon. If we must use fossil fuels then its time the auto makers catch up, now not 10 years from now

Listening to The President's convention speech, I was horrified to hear his references to "clean coal" and new sources of natural gas. I want a Clean Energy plan that is based on clean, renewable energy.

You may know that hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, or “fracking,” is polluting drinking water and impacting air quality in communities from Pennsylvania to Colorado. But fracking has had another, less publicized consequence that hits closer to home: demand for silica sand, or "frac sand," which is used in the hydraulic fracturing process, has gone through the roof. As a result, large-scale frac sand mining operations have descended on central and southern Minnesota—and our waterways, landscapes and public health could suffer the consequences. Major concerns associated with frac sand mining include: -Polluted wastewater leaks from frac sand mines, which endangers waterways such as the Mississippi, St. Croix and Minnesota River basins; -Groundwater depletion as a result of excessive use by the frac sand industry; -Air pollution and environmental degradation as a result of transporting industrial machinery, equipment and millions of tons of sands; -The destruction of rural lands important for wildlife, agriculture, and tourism; -Respiratory disorders from breathing silica sand dust. Now is the time to address the potential dangers of frac sand mining and ensure that Minnesota is properly protected.

Dunkin' Donuts is the largest coffee and baked goods chain in the world. In fact, the company sells more coffee than Starbucks. Each day the company serves an amazing 3 million people which leads to yearly sales of 4.7 million. The problem with this is that Dunkin' Donuts also has made the very dangerous and cheep corporate decision to serve all of their coffee in styrofoam cups. According to the Earth Research Foundation polystyrene also known as styrofoam is a petroleum-based plastic made from the styrene monomer.Styrene is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the EPA and by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). A voluntary compliance program has been adopted by industries using styrene. The US Department of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Administration unsuccessfully (a federal court overturned the ruling in 1992) tried to limit the amount of worker exposure to styrene to 50 parts per million (ppm). According to the Styrene Information and Research Center (SIRC). Styrofoam contains many toxic chemicals which leach out of these products into the food that they contain (especially when heated in a microwave or when served with hot food or liquids, including piping hot coffee. These chemicals threaten human health and reproductive systems. There is extensive research in the endocrinological dangers associated with the chemicals found in polystyrene containers. These include increase in breast and testicular cancer. THE BRIGHT SIDE OF CHANGE- -Post-consumer recycled paper, bamboo, corn plastics, etc. are easily renewable resources. -All of these products biodegrade when composted. -Paper products can be recycled at most people's doorstep where community recycling is in place. -In 1995, 40% of all US paper was recycled, including 32.6 million tons of paper & paperboard. (EPA) -Every ton of 100% Post-consumer waste recycled paper products you buy saves: 12 trees 1,087 pounds of solid waste 1,560 kilowatts of energy (2 months of electric power required by the average US home) 1,196 gallons of water 1,976 lbs. of greenhouse gases (1,600 miles traveled in the average US car) 3 cubic yards of landfill space 9 pounds of HAPs, VOCs, and AOXs combined 390 gallons of oil

I do not want to see coal trains passing through our state. Coal is hazardous to mine, to transport and to burn.