To the editor:

There is only one certain way to stop oil spills such as the catastrophe currently destroying the Gulf of Mexico: We must end our addiction to oil. Under the Clean Air Act, we can reduce greenhouse pollution from coal-fired power and other sources immediately. Under the Clean Air Act, we can establish a national pollution cap for carbon and other greenhouse pollutants consistent with what science, rather than politics, dictates.

We need the Senate not to simply take action, but to take action that truly moves us toward an end to oil spills such as the disaster that continues to ravage the Gulf of Mexico. This means legislation that does not limit or delay Clean Air Act authority to reduce carbon pollution. While the effects of carbon pollution are not as obvious as tar balls on Gulf beaches, oiled wildlife and decimated fisheries and tourist economies, the long-term repercussions of greenhouse-gas pollution are equally devastating, and the solution is the same: End our reliance on fossil fuels.