From Climate Power
For Immediate Release
April 21, 2023
Contact: Joe Binns
Peachtree Corners, GA – Friday, April 21, 2023, Congresswoman Lucy McBath joined the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Georgia Conservation Voters, and other environmental organizations to celebrate new federal water investment funds that the Congresswoman helped secure in tthe Clean Energy Plan of the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The event was held on banks of the Chattahoochee at Jones Bridge Park to highlight these successes and what Georgians can expect from these critical investments, including lower energy costs, cleaner drinking water, and added protection from a worsening climate crisis. Environment Georgia, Sierra Club Georgia and Sustainable Gwinnett also joined the event, which was organized by Climate Power.
The 435-mile-long Chattahoochee River provides drinking water to about half of Georgia’s 10.7 million people, including residents in the state’s two largest cities of Atlanta and Columbus. More than 1000 miles of waterwaywithin the Chattahoochee watershed fail to meet water quality standards, creating serious potential health risks. To date, $159 million dollars has been announced to Georgia to provide clean and safe water across the state and improve water infrastructure. This includes $159 million available in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 to provide clean and safe water across the state through the Environmental Protection Agency.
Building upon these unprecedented federal investments in clean energy and climate change mitigation, Rep. McBath also co-sponsored and helped recently pass The Chattahoochee River Act,legislation to help improve water quality, protect essential public works, and restore ecosystems along the river, which supplies 70% of metro Atlanta’s drinking water and generates thousands of jobs.
“Necessities like clean air and clean water are imperative for the health of our children, the health of our families, and the health of our communities,” Congresswoman Lucy McBath said. “I was so pleased to spend the morning with Georgia Conservation Voters, Chattahoochee Riverkeepers, Climate Power, Environment Georgia, Sierra Club Georgia, and Sustainable Gwinnett to talk about the historic federal investments in our nation’s clean energy future. With this funding, Georgia has the opportunity to lead the clean energy movement, create good paying jobs, and protect our environmental future.”
“Congresswoman McBath understands that as elected officials, we have a moral obligation to act urgently and boldly to secure a safe and habitable planet for future generations, said State Senator Nabilah Islam. “Combating climate change and our push toward clean energy further allows us to create good-paying union jobs, repair Georgia’s aging infrastructure, and improve public health. In fact, more than 12,000 clean energy jobs in Georgia have been announced since the passage of the Clean Energy plan. In Washington, the contrast between President Biden’s pro-environment, pro-working family policies and House Republicans’ policies for polluters could not be more stark. As Democrats, like Congresswoman McBath, fight to lower energy costs for families and build towards a clean energy future, House Republicans are trying to lock us into decades of dirty, volatile fossil fuels that will make the climate crisis worse and perpetuate environmental injustice.”
“Thanks to the historic efforts of the Biden-Harris Administration, Georgia’s Senators, Congresswoman Lucy McBath and her House Democratic colleagues and tens of thousands of climate activists, Georgians have much to celebrate this Earth Day,” said Georgia Conservation Voters State Policy Director Allie Brown. “The Clean Energy plan represents the most aggressive action in our nation’s history to combat the climate crisis. It creates millions of good-paying clean energy jobs, and reduces energy bills for working families across Georgia, and provides funds for families, small businesses, and the states for electrifying transportation, conserving energy, and transitioning to a healthier, more equitable, clean energy future as soon as possible. Still, our work is far from over. Congress needs to fund the Chattahoochee River Act to preserve the Chattahoochee River that’s so vital to Georgia’s drinking water, agriculture, and our natural environment.”
“Chattahoochee Riverkeeper thanks Congresswoman McBath for supporting clean water and the Chattahoochee River Act”, said Chris Manganiello, Water Policy Director at Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. “The Act paves the way to implement water quality projects to address sediment and erosion, eroding shorelines and riverbanks, ecosystem restoration, and nonpoint source pollution as well as the protection of critical infrastructure anywhere in the Chattahoochee River basin, including in Georgia and Alabama. We look forward to continuing to work with Congresswoman McBath to secure a clean and sustainable Chattahoochee River.”
Watch the event here.
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