Sample Points for Writing a Letter to the Editor on IMPACT

–Be clear that you support Senator Sherrod Brown’s “Investments in Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology (IMPACT) Act.” Be specific in urging your state’s U.S. Senators to do so as well.

–The IMPACT Act will devote $30 billion for low-interest loans to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers to retool their factories to make the parts that go into wind turbines, solar arrays, batteries for automobiles, and other sources of clean energy.

–Choose ONE Talking Point from the list below and base your letter on that.

• The IMPACT Act will put people back to work by making American manufacturers more competitive and increasing domestic production of clean energy technologies.
  • A $30 billion revolving loan fund will help small and medium-sized manufacturers retool, expand, or establish American clean energy manufacturing operations.
  • IMPACT will help U.S. manufacturers diversify their product lines and retain existing jobs, as well as create new ones. In turn, this will make them better able to weather a downturn in any specific industry.
• A large cross-section of diverse interests understands the importance of rebuilding our manufacturing base and that clean energy is a great place to start.
  • Through the work of the Apollo Alliance and others, more than 2,200 businesses have endorsed the IMPACT Act. Recently, the National Association of Manufacturers joined the chorus of voices supporting the IMPACT Act.
  • Environmental groups, labor unions and community organizations across the country have also endorsed the IMPACT Act.
  • We need to start making things in America again and rebuild our middle class through well-paid manufacturing jobs. The IMPACT Act will help us do just that here in _____________.
• Without the right support, our manufacturers will miss out on this historic opportunity to make the products that drive the clean energy economy.
  • The world is transitioning from a fossil fuel-based economy to one that runs on clean energy.
  • Europe, China and India are already making major investments in energy efficiency and clean energy production. They understand that the nations that dominate these technologies will dominate the 21st century economy.
  • More than 70 percent of America’s clean energy systems and components are currently produced abroad.
  • We must make smart, targeted investments to help our manufacturers make the products that will power America’s clean energy future of America.
• The IMPACT Act will improve our national security.
  • America can’t afford to continue to rely on unstable, war-torn nations for a dwindling energy source that is ruining our climate.
  • We know the real dangers that face our nation—and our economy—when we allow ourselves to be held over this foreign oil barrel.
  • If we don’t take the right steps now to manufacture clean energy technologies—wind turbines, solar arrays, etc.—our nation will remain vulnerable to the whims of unstable Middle East regimes.
  • Replacing foreign oil with imported batteries for electric cars does not improve our national security. We must build an independent America by becoming energy independent. This means we need to make it in America.