Listen to the story HERE By Nadia Ramiagan November 9, 2021 DURHAM, N.C. — North Carolina lawmakers say President Joe Biden’s recently announced Build Back Better Act will help ensure generations of residents are not forced to grapple with extreme weather, drought and other consequences of climate change. Sen. Natalie Murdock, D-Durham, is one of hundreds of lawmakers across the U.S. who signed […]
Listen to the story HERE
By Nadia Ramiagan
November 9, 2021
DURHAM, N.C. — North Carolina lawmakers say President Joe Biden’s recently announced Build Back Better Act will help ensure generations of residents are not forced to grapple with extreme weather, drought and other consequences of climate change.
Sen. Natalie Murdock, D-Durham, is one of hundreds of lawmakers across the U.S. who signed a letter calling for climate solutions that overlap with those in Biden’s Build Back Better Act.
Murdock said North Carolina communities at most risk from climate change are also those that have been systemically neglected. She pointed out the state stands to gain from $555 billion in the Build Back Better Act allotted to address climate change and increase use of clean energy.
“We’re coming off of four years where we did not have a federal partner,” Murdock asserted. “So that’s all the more reason that we have to act quickly. We have to make up for the time we lost.”
The Biden administration said the legislation will be the largest effort to combat climate change in American history. The framework aims to cut greenhouse-gas pollution by one gigaton by 2030, reduce consumer energy costs, improve the quality of air and water, and advance environmental justice by investing in a clean-energy economy.
Murdock believes North Carolina communities that have been systematically neglected need the transformative change the Build Back Better Act could bring. She added young North Carolinians are increasingly voicing their support for climate action.
“I feel that in my district constituents that are under 21, under 18, let me know that this is their top priority,” Murdock remarked.
According to polling from Navigator Research, 66 percent of Americans supported the Build Back Better Act in September.
A majority of Americans are worried about global warming and 55 percent said they think people in the U.S. are being harmed by the climate crisis right now.
References: Build Back Better framework White House 10/28/2021
Letter Elected Officials to Protect America 09/15/2021
Poll Navigator Research 09/21/2021
Greenhouse gas information National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Dec. 2013
