Although the big energy and climate news earlier this week was the Pentagon’s decision to classify global warming as a “destabilizing force,” the big story of the past month has been Lisa Murkowski’s Dirty Air Act. You’ve probably heard about this toxic resolution already, but it hasn’t gone away and the need for action is as acute now as at any time over the past month.

The EPA, in response to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling, has proposed new rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Failure to do so, the Court said in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, would constitute a violation of the Clean Air Act, the nation’s flagship pollution control law. Unfortunately, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is trying to block the EPA from following that order.

S.J. Res 26, known as the “Dirty Air Act,” is short and to the point: “Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to the endangerment finding and the cause or contribute findings for greenhouse gases under section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act… and such rule shall have no force or effect”.

Though the Dirty Air Act has little chance of passing the Senate and no chance of passing the House, it is the opening salvo in this year’s looming energy battle. The rhetoric and grassroots response to this resolution will set the tone for the rest of the year, so it’s important that you contact your Senators today and ask them to oppose this resolution and instead support a new, comprehensive clean energy policy. Coal-fired power plants kill 24,000 American and cause 550,000 asthma attacks each year. Simultaneously opposing clean energy legislation and refusing to let the EPA do its job would not only gut the Clean Air Act, it would also prevent the creation of 2 million new jobs. I’d much rather have 2 million jobs than half a million wheezing kids.

Please, contact your senators today. A partial list of environmental groups, faith groups, and other organizations opposing this bill is below the jump, as well as information on which Democrats are co-sponsors and which Republicans aren't.

Virtually every major environmental group has e-mailed its members over the last month to oppose this bill, including the Sierra Club, Repower America and the Alliance for Climate Protection, the NRDC, Earthjustice, 1Skyy, and more. The list of faith groups signing letters of protest is equally exhaustive and includes the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Union for Reform Judaism, Church World Service, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers), the Presbyterian Church (USA) Washington Office, and the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Other groups opposing the bill include the American Lung Association, the Union for Concerned Scientists, seven state Attorneys General, and businesses as diverse as Hewlett Packard and Cisco Systems.

Murkowski’s 40 co-sponsors include three Democrats and all but two of the Senate Republicans. Democrats on the wrong side of this issue are Mary Landrieu (LA), Ben Nelson (Nebraska), and Blanche Lincoln (AR). The Republicans standing firm are exactly the two you’d expect and no one more – Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine. (Scott Brown of Not-so-Tax-achusetts-anymore-now-is-it has not yet been sworn in.)

Please, contact your senators today; it will literally take just 30 seconds to oppose this resolution.