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Sen. Jeff Merkley Launches Bill To Completely Phase-Out Fossil Fuels In US

Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley introduced climate legislation Thursday to completely phase-out fossil fuels.

Called the "100 by 50 Act," it aims to run 100 percent of the country on clean and renewable energy by 2050.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., supported the launch. “Mr. President your job is to listen to the scientific community which is virtually unanimous in telling us that we’ve got to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy,” he said.

President Donald Trump has vowed to lift restrictions on the fossil fuel energy industry.

In 2012 he tweeted: "Global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."

He later said the tweet was a joke.

No Republican politicians spoke at the launch Tursday.

Copyright 2021 EarthFix. To see more, visit .

Kristian Foden-Vencil is a veteran journalist/producer working for Oregon Public Broadcasting. He started as a cub reporter for newspapers in London, England in 1988. Then in 1991 he moved to Oregon and started freelancing. His work has appeared in publications as varied as The Oregonian, the BBC, the Salem Statesman Journal, Willamette Week, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, NPR and the Voice of America. Kristian has won awards from the Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists and the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors. He was embedded with the Oregon National Guard in Iraq in 2004 and now specializes in business, law, health and politics.