Anti-green bill up for vote in Ariz. House

PHOENIX, Apr 3, 2012 -- UPI

The Arizona state Senate has passed a bill that would end government funding for energy efficiency and sent it to the House.

The bill, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Judy Burges, would bar the state and its counties and cities from accepting funds to be used for implementation of the U.N. Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, The Arizona Republic reported Monday. The U.N. declaration's principles are to protect Earth, all living things on it and to eradicate poverty.

"This is the most ludicrous bill I've ever seen in six years in the Legislature," House Minority Leader Chad Campbell said.

"You could pretty much shut down any form of government sustainability" efforts with this bill, he said.

Wes Harris, a Phoenix resident and Tea Party member who testified with Burges on the bill before the state Senate Judiciary Committee, said the U.N. declaration "is an attempt to implement a one-world order."

"This is all fueled by government grants" for sustainability, Harris told the committee. "People are just implementing these things because it sounds good. Whatever's green sounds good."

Legislators in Kansas, New Hampshire and Tennessee have proposed similar bills, though none have advanced as far as Burges' bill, the Republic said.

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