GOP lawmakers are urging Dems to consider the environmental impact of cannabis legislation

Through Johanna Skopl

Republican Reps. Earl Carter of Georgia and Doug Lamborn of Colorado called on Senate Democrats to conduct environmental impact assessments of their proposed cannabis legalization bill.

“The American people need to better understand the environmental costs of this fast-growing industry,” wrote lawmakers, available to the Washington Examiner.

“As Congress debates whether to move forward with legalizing marijuana, the American people need to better understand the environmental costs of this fast-growing industry. If government is trying to reduce emissions and protect our environment as aggressively as it has done before, we need to have a comprehensive view of where emissions and other pollution are occurring because they are likely to only increase,” Carter and Lamborn wrote .

Photo by Olena Ruban/Getty Images

Citing studies of the industry’s energy use, the letter claims that indoor cannabis cultivation accounts for 10% of all energy use in Massachusetts, and emissions from Colorado cannabis cultivation are comparable to garbage collection and coal mining.

RELATED: NORML Op-ed: Prohibitionists fear democracy more than marijuana

Carter and Lamborn asked the four agencies for “detailed answers” to these questions by November 30:

• How is current marijuana legalization affecting states’ energy use and emissions levels?
• How would federal legalization of marijuana affect national energy use and emissions levels?
• What is the expected growth in energy use and emissions from the marijuana industry?
• How will the growing energy demands of the marijuana industry affect the reliability of our power grid?
• How are illegal marijuana farms impacting the country’s water supply?
• What damage is the use of various fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides by illegal marijuana growers causing to wildlife, habitats, and people in the United States?

RELATED: Is Growing Marijuana Really That Bad for the Environment?

The letter was addressed to the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Departments of Energy, Home Affairs and Energy in response to the Cannabis Administration And Opportunity Act (CAOA) bill issued and introduced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in the Senate July.

The bill includes plans to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, quash previous convictions and allow people serving sentences for relevant offenses to seek re-sentencing, also promoting social justice.

RELATED: Criminalizing Weed Is a Waste of Resources, Pennsylvania AG Says Ahead of the Election

Schumer said the proposal will “ensure restorative justice, ensure public health, and implement responsible taxes and regulations.” “The overwhelming evidence from the states that have legalized cannabis is that there has been no increase in crime and no increase in drug use,” Schumer recently told reporters. “I think it makes a lot of sense to legalize it.”

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.