In solidarity and with urgent concern, eleven Episcopal bishops representing six New England states have issued a Pastoral Letter on the Environment. The letter coincides with the announcement by the attorneys general of New England that they intend to sue Christie Whitman, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, for its failure to regulate power plant emissions of carbon dioxide as required by the Clean Air Act.

“Our national leadership, as we write in this letter, ‘is failing to acknowledge the urgency of the planetary crisis in which we now find ourselves,’ said The Rt. Rev. Bud Cederholm, Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts. Our letter calls for us to repent of our greed and waste and commit ourselves to energy conservation and the use of clean, renewable sources of energy. All around the country we are seeing religious leaders beginning to talk about our environment and one of the results is that we are putting more pressure on our governmental leaders to meet their commitments to us and to the future.”

In support of the Bishop's leadership, the Office of Government Relations calls on Episcopalians, nationwide, to contact members of Congress to support legislation that upholds our values. Specifically the Episcopal Church has long supported legislation to permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, land sacred to the indigenous and Episcopal Gwich’in nation of Alaska. The Church also supports legislation to substantially increase fuel efficiency standards and opposes the inclusion of Arctic leasing revenues in any budget reconciliation bill.

"Episcopalians recognize that the assault on the environment—from legislation to regulations both state and federal—is so grand that as a Church, we must declare a crisis and focus on systemic change at every level, personal, congregational and national," said John Johnson of the Office of Government Relations. "Through the motivation of faith and the example of our Bishops, Episcopalians everywhere are actively working in support of sensible and just environmental policies.”

The Bishops are issuing the Pastoral letter, “To Serve Christ in All Creation,” to all Episcopalians in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The Episcopal Church’s environmental policies developed by the General Convention and Executive Council support the Bishops in calling to action the more than 250,000 Episcopalians in New England to protect, restore and repair creation.