While these provisions are vital, they alone are not enough. We must go beyond new regulations on the oil industry and new government agencies, and ensure that local communities gain greater input into the future of their homes. The citizens of the Gulf deserve control over how their environment and economy are used (and, up until now, abused). That is why the faith community is pushing Congress to include provisions to set up a Regional Citizens' Advisory Council for the Gulf, modeled after a Council created in response to the Exxon-Valdez disaster. We are pounding the pavement on the Hill this week to urge the inclusion of this Council in the House and Senate bills, and we hope you will tell your Senators that local input into the response and recovery process is one of the best ways we can ensure a just and comprehensive Gulf response, and prevent future disasters.

Even as we respond to the Gulf crisis, we must start taking steps to reduce our use of fossil fuels, and protect our precious public lands and resources. That is why we are also urging the Senate to include Home Star, full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and a renewable electricity standard (RES) in the pending energy bill. Through programs like Home Star, a home energy retrofit program that passed in the House earlier this year with bipartisan support, we can take small steps to decrease energy use and create green jobs. A renewable electricity standard would go even further by mandating that electric utilities begin the transition to clean energy by increasing the percentage of their power that is produced from renewable sources.  Finally, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a long-existing but perennially under-funded program to protect land and water resources across the country, could be fully funded for the first time through this week's energy package.

Programs like Home Star and LWCF, and provisions like the RES, are priorities for the Jewish community as we work to use energy more efficiently and guard our precious natural resources. While this week's energy bill is not the comprehensive climate and energy package we have been working toward, it could still represent an important step forward - and a necessary response to the Gulf crisis. We hope to strengthen the Senate energy bill this week even as we look to the fall and the future for opportunities to put a national climate change program in place. Please join us in calling for as strong an energy bill as we can possibly pass now, and in reminding the House and Senate that we have not and will not give up the fight for a comprehensive climate and energy bill.