October to December 2010
START Treaty: This bill reduces the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals in verifiable ways.
Unemployment Insurance: A 13 month extension for unemployed workers and their families was included in the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010.
Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): Passed in the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, this keeps millions of Americans from falling into poverty and reduces the severity of poverty for millions more.
Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act: This bill reauthorizes child nutrition programs, was enacted on December 13. It provides $4.5 billion over 10 years for better child nutrition through more afterschool and summer meals, higher reimbursements to school lunch providers, improved administration of WIC and meals programs, including easier enrollment of children, and more funding for WIC program improvements.
FDA Food Safety Modernization Act: This food safety law will preserve local control for small farms and processing. Included in this bill is a Tester-Hagan amendment applies screens for geography, scale and direct sales to end users to define farms and small processing facilities that would not be subjected to industrial scale regulations enforced by the Food and Drug Administration. Rather existing state and local public health and sanitation laws will apply to these small businesses.
Burmese Political Prisoner: Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese prisoner, was freed in mid-November. Suu Kyi is a human rights and pro-democracy leader who had been held in detention or house arrest in Myanmar for 15 of the last 21 years. Amnesty International advocated for this Nobel Laureate over the course of two decades. Although she was recently barred from participating in the first elections her country has held in 20 years, we welcome the news of her freedom.
Smith coal plant in KY: The Smith plant was cancelled in November. The coal-burning power plant proposed by the East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) was cancelled by the utility. EKPC entered into an agreement with KFTC (KY For The Commonwealth), the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, the Sierra Club, the Kentucky Office of Attorney General and a number of its customers, committing to halt its plans for two proposed coal-burning power plants in Clark County, one that’s already under construction and a second it planned for the future. Additionally, EKPC committed $125,000 toward a collaborative effort in which the public interest groups, EKPC and its member co-ops, and other parties will work together to evaluate and recommend new energy efficiency programs and renewable energy options.
Offshore Oil Drilling: Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar announced in December that there would be no new offshore drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts or in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico for the next five years.
Glacier National Park and Oil Drilling: Oil companies voluntarily gave up plans to drill on more than 80% of the area near Flathead River Valley. Thousands of signatures were sent to Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar and many organized in preparation for hearings and other events.
START Treaty: This bill reduces the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals in verifiable ways.
Unemployment Insurance: A 13 month extension for unemployed workers and their families was included in the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010.
Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): Passed in the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, this keeps millions of Americans from falling into poverty and reduces the severity of poverty for millions more.
Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act: This bill reauthorizes child nutrition programs, was enacted on December 13. It provides $4.5 billion over 10 years for better child nutrition through more afterschool and summer meals, higher reimbursements to school lunch providers, improved administration of WIC and meals programs, including easier enrollment of children, and more funding for WIC program improvements.
FDA Food Safety Modernization Act: This food safety law will preserve local control for small farms and processing. Included in this bill is a Tester-Hagan amendment applies screens for geography, scale and direct sales to end users to define farms and small processing facilities that would not be subjected to industrial scale regulations enforced by the Food and Drug Administration. Rather existing state and local public health and sanitation laws will apply to these small businesses.
Burmese Political Prisoner: Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese prisoner, was freed in mid-November. Suu Kyi is a human rights and pro-democracy leader who had been held in detention or house arrest in Myanmar for 15 of the last 21 years. Amnesty International advocated for this Nobel Laureate over the course of two decades. Although she was recently barred from participating in the first elections her country has held in 20 years, we welcome the news of her freedom.
Smith coal plant in KY: The Smith plant was cancelled in November. The coal-burning power plant proposed by the East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) was cancelled by the utility. EKPC entered into an agreement with KFTC (KY For The Commonwealth), the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, the Sierra Club, the Kentucky Office of Attorney General and a number of its customers, committing to halt its plans for two proposed coal-burning power plants in Clark County, one that’s already under construction and a second it planned for the future. Additionally, EKPC committed $125,000 toward a collaborative effort in which the public interest groups, EKPC and its member co-ops, and other parties will work together to evaluate and recommend new energy efficiency programs and renewable energy options.
Offshore Oil Drilling: Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar announced in December that there would be no new offshore drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts or in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico for the next five years.
Glacier National Park and Oil Drilling: Oil companies voluntarily gave up plans to drill on more than 80% of the area near Flathead River Valley. Thousands of signatures were sent to Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar and many organized in preparation for hearings and other events.
