Matthew Casey/KJZZ

Arizona Corporation Commissioner Sandra Kennedy was among the speakers at a news conference Dec. 8. 2021. calling for action by Democratic senators Sinema and Kelly before the year ends.

A rewrite of U.S. environmental policy is part of the sweeping social spending bill passed in November by the House of Representatives.

Local leaders are pushing Arizona’s Senate delegation to back the lower chamber’s plan to confront climate change and deliver environmental justice.

Arizona Corporation Commissioner Sandra Kennedy was among the speakers at a news conference calling for action by Democratic senators Sinema and Kelly before the year ends.

Kennedy said poor people who can’t pay for air-conditioning during a heat wave, and minorities living in places with bad air quality suffer the consequences of environmental change.

"Today we’re asking Sen. Sinema and Kelly to feel the pain of those on the front lines of the climate change,” she said.

A Sinema spokesperson pointed to her September acknowledgment that climate change costs Arizonans.

A Kelly spokesperson pointed to his October statement praising President Biden’s vision of the bill as a way to create renewable energy jobs here.