Ed Fallon Holds Town Hall Meetings in Tama, Amana and Des Moines

Thursday, March 6, 2008

(March 6, 2008) - Ed Fallon, Democratic candidate for the Third Congressional District, hosted a series of Town Hall Meetings focusing on the environment today in Tama, Amana and Des Moines. Fallon presented his environmental priorities and talked about the differences between himself and opponent Leonard Boswell.

Fallon has actively worked on environmental issues for more than 23 years. He served on the House Environmental Protection Committee all of his 14 years at the Statehouse and was appointed to the Iowa Climate Change Advisory Council by Governor Culver. The Sierra Club endorsed Fallon during his 2006 gubernatorial campaign.

Fallon says, “One reason I’m running is because my opponent, Leonard Boswell, has a voting record that fails to consistently address the climate change crisis.” Boswell sent out a mailing in early February – at taxpayer expense - that portrayed him as a leader on environmental protection. But according to Fallon, the facts say otherwise. Boswell’s lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is 57 percent. “If your children came home and said they were leaders in their math class but their average grade was a 57 percent, you’d tell them that isn’t leadership – that’s failure,” Fallon said.

Fallon is a proponent of renewable fuels and clean energy technology. He believes incentives to these emerging industries can help transform our economy away from dependence on imported oil to one of exporting green technologies and renewable energy sources along with providing clean, green jobs that will stay in Iowa.

Fallon says Boswell has a record of voting for continued reliance on fossil fuels, taxpayer subsidies for oil and gas companies, and opposition to higher CAFE standards. Fallon says, “Just last week in Newton, Congressman Boswell called for continued use of coal.” Boswell was quoted as saying “It’s dirty, but if we can, put the science to it, and clean it up, scrub it up and make it work.” [posted on newtondailynews.com on 2/25/08]

On February 20, 2008, Greenpeace issued a press release praising Fallon’s position on global climate change that said, “It is especially encouraging to see Fallon’s strong opposition to dirty, dangerous energy sources like coal and nuclear. Federal support for these costly distractions will only come at the expense of real global warming solutions like wind power.” The same release also challenged Rep. Boswell to “follow Fallon’s lead and go beyond signing the Safe Climate Act to oppose any federal subsides to the coal or nuclear industries.”

Fallon believes we need immediate global, national, local and personal action on what may be the pivotal issue of our time. He says, “I’m ready to do what I can to see that environmental issues and climate change are taken seriously inside the beltway.”

###