If you'll recall to diaries past, Jeff Merkley is currently trotting out a four-part plan to combat climate change and enact green policy. I formerly blogged about his first installment early last week. Today, the Merkley campaign announced the second of its four-part plan, which focuses on passing two critical pieces of legislation in the U.S. Senate. From the Merkley campaign e-mail:

Today I'm announcing the second piece of my four part plan:

*First, the Boxer-Sanders Bill, S. 309, is the strongest and most comprehensive climate change bill in the U.S. Senate. I strongly support this Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act, which calls for an 80% reduction in climate change causing pollutants by 2050. Authored by U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-California) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), this bill takes on climate change by making the United States a leader in clean and efficient energy technologies--creating millions of family wage jobs.

*In addition, I will work closely with Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington to pass her "Reducing Demand through Electricity Grid Intelligence Act." This bill will accelerate and encourage the development of a nationwide intelligent energy grid system through the broader use of new technologies. It will also improve energy efficiency and save customers money on their electricity bills. The bill will save taxpayers between $50 billion and $100 billion in the next 20 years and and work toward ending our national dependence on foreign oil.

Boxer/Sanders is an important pieces of legislation that merits our attention. You can read a summary of the bill at Senator Bernie Sanders' legislative website. In short, it sets very ambitious goals for our environmental policy moving forward. In light of the Bush presidency, passing strong environmental legislation is essential to making our nation, as Merkley says, a "leader" in environmental protections and policy. Which we should be, no questions asked. Unlike other policy positions which can benefit from negotiation, I believe that the environment is something on which we should never compromise. Besides, environment and business are not mutually-exclusive, right? We can thrive and succeed in the business sector while stile paying heed to our environment. In that light, I'm delighted that Jeff is going to stand with Senator Sanders and Senator Boxer in supporting this bill.

Besides, any step this strongly in the right direction merits our consideration. As my profile page says, one thing I appreciate about Oregon is its wide-open, green spaces that my native Los Angeles does not have. If we can protect those spaces, both here and across the Nation and World, then we'll be much better off for it. I can imagine that Jeff is thinking the same thing when he writes that "we simply can't continue to put our national security, economic health and environment at risk." Enough is enough, and I'm glad that soon we'll have two U.S. Senators from Oregon who will understand the gravity of the situation.

I know less about the Senator Cantwell bill, but anything that can combine taxpayer savings with energy efficiency should be pretty popular. Right? I'm always unsure about what's popular, however, as often times anti-environmental policies can be all the rage amongst certain segments of our popular that would benefit from less stringent regulation.

If you want to take action from the comfort of your own armchair, go ahead and sign Jeff Merkley's environmental petition.

What are your thoughts about the second piece of Jeff Merkley's plan? Or, more specifically, what do you think of the policies he supports? What other environmental topics would you like to see discussed? On a macro, Nation-wide scale for example, I'd appreciate continued discussion about capping carbon emissions.