    [House Hearing, 116 Congress]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

           GENERATION CLIMATE: YOUNG LEADERS URGE CLIMATE ACTION NOW

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                   BEFORE THE

                            SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE
                                 CLIMATE CRISIS

                         ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                   __________

                                 APRIL 4, 2019

                                   __________

                                Serial No. 116-2

                  [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                www.govinfo.gov
       Printed for the use of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis

                                ________

                   U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

    36-812                 WASHINGTON: 2019

                     SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS

                          KATHY CASTOR, Florida, Chair
    BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico            GARRET GRAVES, Louisiana,
    SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon               Ranking Member
    JULIA BROWNLEY, Calfornia            MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia
    JARED HUFFMAN, California            GARY PALMER, Alabama
    A. DONALD McEACHIN, Virginia         BUDDY CARTER, Georgia
    MIKE LEVIN, California               CAROL MILLER, West Virginia
    SEAN CASTEN, Illinois                KELLY ARMSTRONG, North Dakota
    JOE NEGUSE, Colorado
                    Ana Unruh Cohen, Majority Staff Director
                            climatecrisis.house.gov

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------

                       STATEMENTS OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

                                                                       Page
    Hon. Kathy Castor, a Representative in Congress from the State of
      Florida, and Chair, Select Committee on the Climate Crisis:
      Opening Statement..............................................     1
      Prepared Statement.............................................     3
    Hon. Garrett Graves, a Representative in Congress from the State
      of Louisiana, and Ranking Member, Select Committee on the
      Climate Crisis:
      Opening Statement..............................................     4
    Hon. Suzanne Bonamici, a Representative in Congress from the
      State of Oregon, and Member, Select Committee on the Climate
      Crisis, prepared statement, submitted for the record by Ms.
      Castor.........................................................     5

                                   WITNESSES

    Lindsay Cooper, Policy Analyst, Office of the Governor of
      Louisiana, Office of Coastal Activities
      Oral Statement.................................................    11
      Prepared Statement.............................................    12
    Aji Piper, Plaintiff, Juliana v. United States, Seattle, WA
      Oral Statement.................................................    14
      Prepared Statement.............................................    16
    Chris J. Suggs, Student and Activist, Kinston, NC
      Oral Statement.................................................     6
      Prepared Statement.............................................     8
    Melody Zhang, Climate Justice Campaign Coordinator, Sojourners,
      Co-Chair, Young Evangelicals for Climate Action
      Oral Statement.................................................    36
      Prepared Statement.............................................    38

                           SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD

    Letter from ND Resident, Tanner Hopfauf, submitted for the record
      by Mr. Armstrong...............................................    50
    Excerpt from Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis.
      Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report
      of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, submitted for
      the record by Mr. Palmer.......................................    63
    Excerpt from the: Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National
      Climate Assessment, Volume I, submitted for the record by Mr.
      Palmer.........................................................    66
    Statement of Mr. Benji Backer, President, American Conservation
      Coalition (ACC), submitted for the record by Mr. Graves........    71
    Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of
      Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the
      Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, submitted for the
      record by Mr. Huffman..........................................    70
    Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate
      Assessment, Volume I, submitted for the record by Mr. Huffman..    70

           GENERATION CLIMATE: YOUNG LEADERS URGE CLIMATE ACTION NOW

                                  ----------

                            THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2019

                         U.S. House of Representatives,
                        Select Committee on the Climate Crisis,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The committee met, pursuant to call, at 9:02 a.m., in Room
    2318, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Kathy Castor
    [chairwoman of the committee] presiding.
        Present: Representatives Castor, Lujan, Bonamici, Brownley,
    Huffman, Levin, Casten, Neguse, Graves, Palmer, Carter, Miller,
    and Armstrong.
        Ms. Castor. The committee will come to order. Good morning.
    Welcome to the first committee hearing of the Select Committee
    on the Climate Crisis.
        Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a
    recess of the committee at any time.
        Today, we are going to hear from young Americans who are
    concerned about climate change and who are working to be part
    of the solution.
        I now recognize myself for 5 minutes to give an opening
    statement.
        This committee is explicitly charged with finding solutions
    to solve the climate crisis so that we can, quote, ``honor our
    responsibility to be good stewards of the planet for future
    generations.''
        So, today, we are starting with the Americans who are the
    most affected by the climate crisis: young people, who are
    growing up in it, who are going to be bear the cost and the
    burdens, and who will help us find opportunities and solutions.
        The last time global monthly temperatures were below
    average was in February of 1985. That means all of our
    witnesses and everyone who is 34 years or younger have grown up
    in a world that has been forever altered by climate change. In
    fact, this is the first Congress with Members who have grown up
    in the climate crisis. Six of our colleagues were born after
    that last below-average month.
        And the severity of the climate crisis this generation will
    have to deal with in their lifetimes depends on the actions
    that we take now. We have made some progress in recent years in
    cutting carbon pollution, but it has not been enough to stop
    the climate crisis. Communities across the country are feeling
    the impacts and bearing enormous cost, here and now.
        When I was in science class, back in the day, I didn't
    learn about how burning fossil fuels could change the climate,
    but students learn about that now. I am Gen X, but Millennials
    and Generation Z have grown up knowing we are in a climate
    crisis, and they are demanding that we address it.
        And I want to be clear: We need this young, vibrant, smart
    generation that is central to America's democracy. They work,
    they pay taxes, they vote. And, increasingly, they are doing
    everything they can to solve the climate crisis. In their
    schools, in their houses of worship, in their communities, they
    are taking action, and they are demanding that elected
    officials do the same.
        Solving the climate crisis offers opportunities for them.
    Some of the fastest-growing jobs in American are solar
    installers and wind turbine technicians, clean-energy
    engineers. These are no longer the jobs of the future; they are
    the jobs that this generation is doing to solve the climate
    crisis right now.
        This is a transformative generation. The March for Our
    Lives, the Peoples Climate Movement, the massive student
    climate strikes we saw all around the world--these are
    movements led by young people who are demanding climate justice
    for their generation and the generations of young people who
    will come after them.
        Seventy percent of young people in America say they worry
    about climate change. And based on the latest science from the
    administration's own National Climate Assessment and the
    Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, they have reason to
    worry. Seas are rising, snow pack is melting away, and, in many
    parts of the country, droughts are getting worse. Hot, humid
    heat waves are becoming more intense. We are faced with more
    days where people cannot safely work or play outside. And
    higher temperatures mean that other pollutants, like ground-
    level ozone from car exhaust, will become even more damaging to
    our health.
        What is necessary to address the climate crisis is to stop
    carbon pollution from accumulating in the atmosphere. That
    requires action--urgent action, ambitious action. Every ton of
    carbon pollution we avoid, every new solar panel and wind
    turbine we bring on line, brings us one step closer to solving
    the climate change challenge.
        So I want all the young people who are with us here today
    and those who are watching at school and across the country to
    hear our promise. We can't afford to let you down or disappoint
    you.
        The time for rejecting climate science is over. The time
    for frustration and despair in the face of the climate crisis
    must end. This is a time for hope. This is a time for
    solutions. This is a time for all of us to come together--all
    generations, all political persuasions--for action. You all are
    rising to the occasion. We must rise with you.
        Finally, when I was preparing for this hearing, I was
    reminded that April 4, today, is the anniversary of the date in
    1968 when we lost one of our great spiritual and political
    leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
        Dr. King understood how powerful young people are when it
    comes to fighting for justice. In 1960, amid some of the most
    intense student activism of the civil rights movement, Dr. King
    told students at Spelman College, ``Keep moving, for it may
    well be that the greatest song has not yet been sung, the
    greatest book has not yet been written, the highest mountain
    has not been climbed. This is your challenge.''
        Today, solving the climate crisis is not just your
    challenge; it is the challenge that we all share. And this
    committee is dedicated to ensuring that Congress meets it with
    you.
        I now recognize the ranking member, the gentleman from
    Louisiana, Mr. Graves, for an opening statement.
        [The statement of Ms. Castor follows:]
                                   __________

      Opening Statement (As Prepared for Delivery) of Rep. Kathy Castor,
            Chair, U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis

        This is the first of many Select Committee hearings that is focused
    on solutions to the climate crisis. The need for solutions is
    increasingly urgent.
        The first major warning Congress received about the impending
    climate crisis was in 1988. But the Congress didn't act then. Today we
    know that oil companies' own scientists warned them about climate
    change, too. But instead of action, executives chose to tell Congress
    and the American people to ignore the scientists . . . and that we
    could afford to wait.
        Now the scientific consensus is too unequivocal to deny. What is
    clear from the science and what diverse voices, including young people
    across America, are telling us every day is that if Congress continues
    to delay, we lose. If Congress chooses the status quo, we lose.
        In fact, scientists have told us that the world needs to hit net-
    zero carbon emissions by 2050 to avoid the worst consequences of the
    climate crisis. Getting there means cutting greenhouse gas pollution 45
    percent below 2010 levels by 2030.
        To get there--and to give ourselves a chance of avoiding the most
    catastrophic consequences of climate change--we have to cut carbon
    pollution smartly and soon. Taking action now gives us the best
    opportunity to transition to a clean energy economy efficiently and
    equitably.
        We still have time to solve the climate crisis because we've made
    some good choices: raising fuel economy standards, supporting wind and
    solar jobs, and investing in research and development that is coming to
    fruition now. America chose to lead the world in the Paris Climate
    Agreement, an agreement vital to the clean energy jobs and innovations
    underway across America now.
        But every time Congress and the administration choose delay,
    American families and business are asked to pay a higher price whether
    it's through climate catastrophes, extreme heat, dirtier air or higher
    electric bills.
        But as daunting as the climate crisis is, we can make choices and
    rise to the challenge.
        Many businesses and communities across America have been leading
    the way. More than 3 million Americans work in the clean energy
    economy. Existing energy efficiency standards will save consumers and
    businesses $2 trillion on utility bills by 2030. And fuel economy
    standards will save the average household another $2,800 a year at the
    pump. Still, there is no substitute for bold federal policy initiatives
    that meet the scale of the challenge we face.
        When we choose clear policies with clear goals, businesses
    innovate. They reduce costs. They put clean technology to work.
        Our witnesses today will help us examine and prioritize our policy
    choices. We're going to look at infrastructure, at deploying more wind
    and solar, at electrifying home heating and transportation, at cutting
    the most powerful climate pollutants and more.
        We're also going to look at funding research and development and
    establishing public-private partnerships that move technology from the
    lab to the market. We are going to look at capturing and storing carbon
    and pulling it out of the atmosphere.
        But we have to be clear: technological breakthroughs are not
    guaranteed. Choosing to invest in innovation doesn't give us an excuse
    to choose the status quo elsewhere.
        At the end of the day, technology is just a tool. It's people who
    will solve the climate crisis.
        The clean energy economy employs millions of people and we can
    choose policies that will make those jobs family-sustaining jobs.
        That includes elevating transition for workers in the fossil fuel
    industry. They deserve a clean energy economy that delivers for them,
    in their communities. We need good and patriotic policies for them,
    too.
        And we need climate solutions that work for people who are on the
    front lines of the climate crisis. That means putting an end to
    environmental racism and making sure the jobs at the heart of the clean
    energy economy are accessible to everyone.
        We have to pursue many options to meet our goals by 2030 and 2050.
    The one option we don't have any more is delay. We must choose climate
    action now.

        Mr. Graves. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for
    holding this hearing today.
        And I want to thank all of you all for coming here today to
    share your perspective.
        I have the opportunity often to visit with students and go
    talk to college classes and high school and elementary school
    classes. And I remind them, and I remind our kids, that the
    decisions that we make here, just statistically, you all have
    to deal for with a longer period of time than we do, right?
    Just looking at life expectancy, it is simple numbers.
        And whenever Congress comes in and starts appropriating
    money and adds to our $22 trillion debt and proposing
    legislation that would just continue adding to that, it is a
    debt that is going to have to be paid at some point. It is one
    example of a long-term consequence that is going to adversely
    affect young folks, and it is going to disproportionately
    affect young folks.
        And so I want to commend every one of you for being here,
    for participating in your government, for recognizing the
    decisions that we make are going to affect you, and they are
    going to affect you for a longer period of time than they are
    going to affect people of my generation and older.
        You know, I agree with some of the statements that the
    chair made in regard to our obligation to be good stewards of
    this planet and protect the environment.
        Not a very well-known occupation of mine for a number of
    years is I was a mountaineering instructor. I was a wilderness
    instructor, educator. And there were years of my life where I
    spent more time living outside than I did inside. Doing that
    job, being in the outdoors, being in the incredible environment
    that we have here in the United States and other countries--
    absolutely amazing and one of the most important parts of my
    life.
        When I came up and I started doing policy work up here in
    my young 20s, I was so aggravated that I didn't have the
    opportunity to be outside. I actually used to drive every
    weekend over to Mrs. Miller's State from April to October to go
    be a river guide so I could be outside again on weekends.
        Growing up in south Louisiana, we fish and have a very
    unique swamp and coastal area that--it is an environment unlike
    anywhere else I have ever seen, and it is absolutely amazing.
    In fact, U.S. Fish has called it one of the most productive
    ecosystems on the North American continent. It is an amazing
    place.
        We need to be good stewards and--let me be clear--we need
    to be better stewards of our environment, of our earth. And we
    need to ensure that the science that we gain, the technology
    that we gain, that we are able to apply it into logical
    solutions that actually make a difference.
        After spending a little bit of time up here doing some
    policy work, I learned a lot about what was going on in south
    Louisiana. I found out that we had lost about 2,000 square
    miles of our coast, that same coast that I made reference to
    earlier as one of the most productive ecosystems on the North
    American continent.
        And we immediately began working together with Republicans,
    Democrats, independents. We literally got to the point to where
    we had environmental organizations and Lisa Jackson, who was
    the EPA Administrator under President Obama, and energy
    companies all working together toward a common goal of a
    sustainable ecosystem and sustainable communities.
        And despite, at one point, death threats and other charges
    against me and the folks who were working on our team, we ended
    up putting a plan together that united everyone, a
    sustainability plan for the ecosystem and for the community,
    that ended up getting unanimous support through four committees
    and through our entire legislature.
        I believe we have an opportunity to make progress on this
    issue. I do. I think we have an opportunity to help bring down
    energy costs. I think we have an opportunity to truly pursue an
    all-of-the-above energy strategy that helps to reduce
    emissions. I think we have the ability to apply American
    innovation and know-how to reducing emissions in the United
    States and to being a global leader on this topic.
        Today--today--the United States spends more money on
    climate science and technology than any other country in the
    world. Are we spending these dollars in the places where we
    need to be spending them? Are we investing in strategies that
    are going to actually yield outputs and gains that, again, help
    to improve our environment, help to reduce emissions, help to
    bring down energy costs? Or are we spending money and studying
    things that aren't ultimately going to yield outputs or
    outcomes?
        I am really looking forward to hearing you all's thoughts
    today. I am really looking forward to getting your input and
    figuring out how we can work together to next steps to truly
    try to redefine this issue and stop this partisan
    ridiculousness that surrounds this issue and make progress that
    we can truly be proud of and turn over a planet, turn over an
    environment to my kids, to the next generation, and theirs that
    we can all be proud of.
        I thank you and yield back.
        Ms. Castor. Thank you, Mr. Graves.
        Without objection, members who wish to enter opening
    statements into the record may have 5 business days to do so.
        [The information follows:]
                                   __________

               Statement for the Record of Hon. Suzanne Bonamici

        Statement for the Record Climate change is one of the greatest
    existential threats of our time; we cannot wait any longer to take bold
    action to address it.
        The U.S. Global Change Research Program's Fourth National Climate
    Assessment (NCA) and the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
    Change (IPCC) report add to the overwhelming research demonstrating
    that the consequences of inaction on climate change will be serious and
    swift.
        Findings from the IPCC report indicate that an increase in global
    warming by 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels would result
    in extreme heat, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, water scarcity,
    lower crop yields, more acidic ocean water, and bleached coral reefs.
    The report demonstrated that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees
    Celsius by 2040 would require a reduction in net global greenhouse gas
    emissions by 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030, and 100 percent
    below 2010 levels by 2050. The NCA makes clear that greenhouse gas
    emissions from human activities are the most substantial factor that
    account for the observed global warming over the past six decades, and
    carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are now higher than at
    any time in the last three million years.
        Without intervention, we will continue to see record heat waves,
    more acidic oceans, raging wildfires, unprecedented hurricanes, rising
    sea levels, and a surge in extreme weather patterns--all in our
    lifetime. Our inaction creates significant consequences for every
    person in our country, particularly and disproportionately young
    children, seniors, and other vulnerable populations.
        We must face this challenge. We have the opportunity and the
    imperative to reverse and mitigate the worst effects of climate change
    by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to clean energy
    sources while creating new, good-paying jobs.
        In the district that I represent in Northwest Oregon, and across
    the country, people are demanding bold action on climate change. I have
    been inspired by the advocacy of young people across the country who
    are speaking out and demanding that the federal government act on
    climate change. These young leaders are reminding us that all three
    branches of the federal government, along with local and state
    governments, the private sector, and individuals, must all take
    immediate action to address the climate crisis.
        Confronting climate change will require ambitious action that
    acknowledges the scale of the crisis and uses the best available
    science in crafting solutions. I am excited to work with my colleagues
    on this Committee to fight for comprehensive policies that will
    strengthen the economy and protect our planet for future generations.

        4Ms. Castor. Now, I want to welcome our witnesses.
        First, we have Mr. Chris Suggs, who describes himself as a
    speaker, activist, community leader, and entrepreneur. He hails
    from Kinston, North Carolina, and is a student at the
    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
        Ms. Lindsay Cooper is a recent college graduate who served
    as a Louisiana Governor's fellow while studying at Tulane.
    After graduation, she joined the Governor's Office of Coastal
    Activities as a policy analyst.
        Mr. Aji Piper is a plaintiff in the landmark climate change
    case called Juliana v. The United States. He lives in Seattle,
    near Puget Sound.
        And Ms. Melody Zhang is a climate justice coordinator at
    Sojourners and serves as co-chair for the steering committee of
    Young Evangelicals for Climate Action. She just moved to D.C.
    after growing up and attending school in Michigan.
        Without objection, the witnesses' written statements will
    be made part of the record.
        With that, Mr. Suggs, you are now recognized to give a 5-
    minute presentation of your testimony.

     STATEMENTS OF CHRIS J. SUGGS, STUDENT AND ACTIVIST, KINSTON,
       NORTH CAROLINA; LINDSAY COOPER, POLICY ANALYST, OFFICE OF
     COASTAL ACTIVITIES, OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA; AJI
         PIPER, PLAINTIFF, JULIANA V. UNITED STATES, SEATTLE,
        WASHINGTON; AND MELODY ZHANG, CLIMATE JUSTICE CAMPAIGN
      COORDINATOR, SOJOURNERS, AND CO-CHAIR, STEERING COMMITTEE,
                 YOUNG EVANGELICALS FOR CLIMATE ACTION

                      STATEMENT OF CHRIS J. SUGGS

        Mr. Suggs. Chair Castor, Ranking Member Graves, and members
    of the committee, thank you for this opportunity today to
    testify about my personal experience with natural disasters and
    our Nation's changing climate.
        My name is Chris Suggs. I am 18 years old, and I am a
    sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
    where I am studying political science and religious studies. I
    am from Kinston, North Carolina, where I was born and raised
    and my parents were born and raised.
        I am here today to talk about the impacts of climate change
    that I have seen in my community firsthand and my personal
    experiences, urging Congress to take action now.
        Kinston is a small town with just a little over 20,000
    people located in the heart of eastern North Carolina. My mom,
    who is here with me today, is an elementary school teacher and
    city councilwoman, and my father is a part-time recreation
    supervisor. I love my hometown. Everybody knows everybody, and
    it is truly a great place to live.
        Once a bustling community with a strong economy based on
    textiles and tobacco, today Kinston faces a lot of economic
    challenges. Before I was born, lots of industries left the
    area, and Hurricanes Fran and Floyd in the 1990s wiped out lots
    of businesses and damaged many of our neighborhoods.
        This led to disinvestment, lack of community morale, and a
    significant population loss. Between 1990 and 2010, Kinston
    lost more than 16 percent of its population. East Kinston was
    particularly hit hard. A neighborhood there known as Lincoln
    City was wiped out by Hurricane Floyd in 1999, the year before
    I was born.
        From what I have read and heard from members of my
    community, that hurricane was devastating--it was beyond
    devastating. But from what I have seen, driving down streets
    that were once full of homes and businesses but now overground
    with brush and wildlife thanks to flooding and FEMA buyout
    programs, I know it was beyond devastating.
        To this day, there continues to be concentrated poverty and
    crime in my neighborhood, in part due to lots of abandoned
    structures, outdated and dense public housing, and a lack of
    economic development.
        At a very young age, my parents instilled in my siblings
    and I the importance of serving our community and uplifting
    others. That is why, in October of 2014, when issues in Kinston
    began getting really bad, I knew I needed to make a change.
        Throughout 2014, gun violence become a serious issue in
    Kinston, especially among young people. This combined with a
    2014 study stating that my neighborhood of East Kinston was the
    most economically distressed census tract in the entire State
    of North Carolina made me decide that enough was enough.
        So I decided to start my nonprofit organization, Kinston
    Teens Incorporated, with a mission of empowering young people
    through service, leadership, and civic engagement. We host
    youth leadership seminars, arrange college visits for high
    school students, work to register voters, and make sure our
    voices are heard at State and local government meetings.
        In my neighborhood of East Kinston, we launched a vacant-
    lot transformation program to transform vacant lots into small
    parks, community gardens, and other community amenities. A big
    part of our work has been to respond to disasters like
    Hurricane Matthew and Florence and work to build community
    resilience.
        The thing about Kinston is that hurricanes aren't even the
    worst part of the storm for us; it is the catastrophic flooding
    that follows. Kinston sits along the banks of the Neuse River,
    which cuts right through our town. That river is one of our
    greatest natural assets but also one of the most dangerous. It
    has flooded again and again, cutting off parts of our
    community, wiping out neighborhoods, and flooding our main
    business corridor along U.S. Highway 70.
        As a result, my town's socioeconomic challenges cannot be
    divorced from the extreme weather we have experienced. Poverty
    and hurricanes are deeply intertwined for us in eastern North
    Carolina.
        In 2016, Hurricane Matthew hit. Following the storm, the
    river flood stage hit about 28.3 feet. And within 3 or 4 days,
    it was swamping entire apartment complexes, flooding businesses
    and churches, and cutting the town in half.
        My organization, Kinston Teens, had been in existence for
    about 2 years then, and we immediately sprang into action.
    Parts of Kinston were cut off from food assets for about 25
    days because of flooding. So it took a serious community effort
    to make sure that our neighbors were provided with the
    resources to survive. It took 3 or 4 weeks for the waters to
    completely recede.
        When Hurricane Florence hit in September 2018 and caused
    that same level of destruction, many families, neighborhoods,
    and businesses were once again under water. They were still
    recovering from Matthew, though.
        But Kinston Teens again sprang into action. We worked with
    our city officials and police department to go door to door
    notifying people about the evacuation process, telling them
    where their local shelters were, and even in some cases helping
    people to physically evacuate. We coordinated volunteers to
    distribute food, groceries, and phone chargers to families in
    the shelters and our first responders.
        My community is still rebuilding from Florence and from
    Matthew on top of that. And with hurricane season starting in
    just a few months, people in Kinston are hesitant about what
    might happen this year. In just my 18\1/2\ years on this earth,
    my community has experienced two 500-year floods on top of the
    floods after Hurricane Floyd in 1999. For these catastrophic
    events to happen at such a fast rate, a rate that my community
    can't recover from, is deeply alarming.
        Climate change is an extra kick to communities and
    populations that are already down, especially with how often
    these major hurricanes and floods are occurring. My testimony
    is a call to action. We have to do something now to address the
    threat of a changing climate, reduce our impact on the
    environment, and mitigate the effects of these natural
    disasters.
        Thank you so much for this opportunity to share my story
    and my community's story. I look forward to answering your
    questions.
        [The statement of Mr. Suggs follows:]
                                   __________

                       Prepared Statement of Chris Suggs

                                  introduction
        Chair Castor, Ranking Member Graves, and members of the House
    Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, thank you for the opportunity
    to testify today about my personal experience with climate change, and
    the need for urgent and equitable action to address this crisis. Chair
    Castor, thank you also for your recent leadership in introducing H.R.
    9, the Climate Action Now Act--I'm excited to see Congress taking the
    first steps in a long time to act on climate.
        My name is Chris Suggs and I am 18 years old. I'm a sophomore at
    the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I'm double-
    majoring in Political Science and Religious Studies. I'm from Kinston,
    North Carolina, where I have lived my whole life and my parents have
    lived their whole lives.
        In September 2018, my town was hit by Hurricane Florence--the
    second major hurricane in a 2-year period. The storm led to historic
    flooding that left entire neighborhoods underwater and caused massive
    damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure. Now, more than six
    months later, things are finally starting to get back to normal--just a
    few weeks ago, the last flood-damaged business finally re-opened. I'm
    here today to talk about the impacts of climate change that I've seen
    in my community firsthand and why we must take climate action now.
                       kinston background & kinston teens
        Kinston is a small town with just a little over 20,000 people,
    located in the heart of eastern North Carolina. I was raised in East
    Kinston, a mostly poor, predominantly black neighborhood in the
    southeast part of town. My mom is an elementary school teacher and a
    city councilwoman, and my father is a parks and recreation supervisor.
    I love my hometown--everybody knows everybody, and it is truly an
    awesome place to live.
        Once a bustling community with a robust economy based on textile
    manufacturing and tobacco, today Kinston faces a number of economic
    challenges. Before I was born, many industries left the area, and
    Hurricanes Fran and Floyd in the 1990s wiped out a lot of businesses
    and damaged many of our neighborhoods, leading to disinvestment, a lack
    of community morale, and significant population loss. Between 1990 and
    2010, the population of Kinston fell more than 16 percent. East Kinston
    was particularly hit hard--a neighborhood known as ``Lincoln City'' was
    completely wiped out by Hurricane Floyd in 1999. To this day, there
    continues to be concentrated poverty and crime in part thanks to lots
    of abandoned structures, outdated and dense public housing, and a lack
    of economic development.
        But despite these challenges, I believe Kinston is a great
    community, an awesome community. I grew up loving it and have always
    been actively engaged in my school, community, and in my church, Sand
    Hill Free Will Baptist Church. At a very young age, my parents
    instilled in my siblings and I the importance of serving our community
    and uplifting others. That's why, in October 2014, when I was 14 years
    old, and issues in Kinston began getting too bad, I knew I needed to
    make a change. Shootings were happening nearly every other day,
    especially among young people--to people I knew, people I considered
    friends. My classmates were shooting each other or getting shot. This
    combined with a 2014 study showing that my neighborhood of East Kinston
    was the most economically distressed census tract in the state, led me
    to decide that enough was enough.
        We needed an outlet for young people to be empowered, and to make
    changes in their own lives. I'd been involved with Boy Scouts all
    throughout middle school, but I knew we needed more--a way to get
    people civically engaged and talk directly to our elected officials.
        So, I decided to start a nonprofit called Kinston Teens with a
    mission of empowering young people through service, leadership, and
    civic engagement. We've been going strong for a little over four and a
    half years now, working to ensure young people are involved in the
    decisions that most affect us.
        We host youth leadership seminars, arrange college visits for high
    school students, work to register voters, create mentoring programs at
    elementary schools, and make sure our voices are heard at state and
    local government meetings. In my neighborhood of East Kinston, we
    launched a Vacant Lot Transformation Program to transform vacant lots
    into small parks, community gardens and other amenities. We've been
    able to accomplish a lot in just over four years, but there is much
    more to be done. A big part of our work has been to respond to
    disasters, like Hurricanes Matthew and Florence, and work to build
    community resilience.
               hurricanes matthew & florence, and climate change
        As I mentioned, the year before I was born, in September 1999,
    Hurricane Floyd hit. From what I've read and heard from my parents and
    members of my community, it was beyond devastating. I grew up
    continuously hearing about how Floyd and Fran, which was an earlier
    hurricane in the 90s, forever changed Kinston and our community.
        The thing about Kinston is that the hurricanes aren't even the
    worst part of the storm . . . it's the catastrophic flooding that
    follows. Kinston sits on the banks of the Neuse River, which cuts right
    through our town. That river is one of our greatest natural assets, but
    also one of the most dangerous. It has flooded again and again and
    again--cutting off parts of our community and damaging homes,
    apartments and our biggest business corridor, which lies along U.S.
    Highway 70. As a result, my town's socioeconomic challenges cannot be
    divorced from the extreme weather we've experienced. Poverty and
    hurricanes are deeply intertwined for us in Eastern North Carolina.
        In 2016 when I was 16, Hurricane Matthew hit. Within three or four
    days after the hurricane, entire neighborhoods were under water. During
    Matthew, the flood stage hit 28.3 feet--swamping apartment complexes,
    flooding businesses and churches, and cutting the town in half. My
    organization, Kinston Teens, had been in existence for two years when
    Matthew hit, and we immediately got to work. It was a month-long
    fiasco. Parts of Kinston were cut off from food access for 25 days
    because of the flooding. It took three or four weeks for the flood
    levels to completely recede.
        Fast forward two years, to last year: September of 2018 when
    Hurricane Florence hit. At the time, many families, neighborhoods and
    businesses were still recovering from Hurricane Matthew--and Florence
    and its floods made sure that these places that were just starting to
    get stable again were right back under water.
        Kinston Teens again sprang into action. We worked with our city
    officials and police department to go door to door before the Hurricane
    hit and in the days following ahead of the floods, notifying people
    about the evacuation process, telling them where their local shelters
    were, and even in some cases helping them to physically evacuate. We
    had businesses donate funds, coordinated volunteers to distribute food,
    groceries, phone chargers and other supplies to families in shelters
    and first responders impacted by the storm. I remember one lady we
    helped was a single mother of two kids, who lived in southeast Kinston
    and worked at a restaurant on highway 70. Her home was flooded, and her
    job was too. We were fortunate to be able to provide food and clothes
    for her family while they were displaced in the shelter. It's been
    eight months, though, and she's still not fully back on her feet. As
    the greatest country in the world, there's no way we can sit idle while
    these storms cause such detrimental effects on our citizens' lives.
                       next steps & climate action needed
        My community is still rebuilding from Florence, and from Matthew on
    top of that. And there's hesitation and fear in Kinston around what
    might happen this year. Hurricane season starts in just a few months.
    In just my eighteen-and-a-half years on this Earth, my community has
    experienced TWO 500-year-floods--on top of the floods after Hurricane
    Floyd in 1999. They're not supposed to happen this often, but they
    occurred within the span of just two years--back to back. For these
    kinds of catastrophic events to happen at such a fast rate--a rate that
    my community can't recover from--is deeply alarming.
        For me, the saddest thing about these recurring natural disasters
    that are exacerbated by climate change, is that the communities that
    are the most affected--like mine--are often the communities that have
    ALREADY been hit the hardest by all of society's other problems. You
    have poor, rural communities that are completely underwater or get cut
    off from their access to food, hospitals, and medical supplies. You
    have communities that rely heavily on the farming industry just
    devastated by these storms, causing farmers, migrant workers and their
    families to lose income while the farms are underwater. And you have
    predominantly poor communities, black communities and housing projects
    that were built in the flood plains--because those were the only places
    they were allowed--that become completely submerged. That's the story
    of Kinston, and much of eastern North Carolina.
        I've never known a world that wasn't impacted by climate change,
    and it's time for that to change. My generation knows we have no time
    to waste, and while Kinston Teens and I are here to help Kinston
    rebuild and become as resilient as possible-- it shouldn't just fall to
    us. We need action. I voted for the first time in the November of 2018
    and like millions other young people and first-time voters across the
    country, I was voting to keep our communities safe and resilient, and
    to protect our families and our homes. We turned out in record numbers
    last year, and we're not going away.
        Climate change is an extra kick to communities and populations that
    are already down . . . especially with how often these major hurricanes
    and floods are occurring. My testimony is a call for action. We have to
    do something now to address the threat of a changing climate, reduce
    OUR impact on the environment, and mitigate the effects of these
    natural disasters.
        Thank you so much for the opportunity to tell my story today. I
    look forward to answering your questions.

        Ms. Castor. Thank you, Mr. Suggs.
        Ms. Cooper, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.

                      STATEMENT OF LINDSAY COOPER

        Ms. Cooper. Good morning, Chair Castor, Ranking Member
    Graves, and members of the committee. My name is Lindsay
    Cooper, and I want to thank you for the opportunity to discuss
    a Louisiana perspective on climate concerns.
        Louisiana really is, in many respects, the perfect case
    study for this committee as it grapples with a path moving
    forward for action in regard to climate change and its
    associated impacts.
        But before further detailing the role of Louisiana in this
    discussion, let me first introduce myself. I was born, raised,
    and educated on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain in
    Louisiana. I attended Tulane University, where I majored in
    marine biology and public policy, and I graduated this past
    December.
        During college, I served as an environmental advocacy
    volunteer with No Waste NOLA, a local nonprofit seeking to
    reduce plastic waste throughout the city. I also interned for
    the Gulf Restoration Network, a local nonprofit focused on
    science-based coastal protection. I served as a research
    assistant for the Tulane Institute of Water Resources Law and
    Policy, and I became president of the Tulane University Green
    Club my sophomore year.
        Last year, as Chair Castor recognized earlier, I served as
    a Louisiana Governor's fellow, where I had the privilege to
    work alongside Governor John Bel Edwards in his coastal office
    directly on statewide policy initiatives.
        It was in this time that I discovered the extent of our
    Louisiana coastal crisis and the imperative with which it must
    be addressed. Therefore, upon graduation, I joined Governor
    John Bel Edwards in his coastal office, where I serve as a
    policy analyst. I work diligently alongside the Coastal
    Protection and Restoration Authority to move forward policies
    that promote coastal wetland protection and restoration in my
    state.
        However, it did not take this experience in coastal policy
    to teach me about devastation from unparalleled climate
    threats. In states vulnerable to hurricanes, floods, and
    coastal degradation, my family and countless other lifelong
    friends have confronted devastation after devastation from
    these increasingly intense weather events. In the wake of
    Hurricane Katrina, my own family had to relocate for months
    while our schools were closed, but many of my neighbors and
    friends never returned.
        In light of these circumstances, I am compelled to use my
    education and experience to fight for the culture, people, and
    environment into which I was born.
        The Louisiana coast serves many national interests:
    fisheries, energy production, port, navigation, and trade
    activities. It provides countless ecosystem services and is
    home to over 2 million people.
        Our coastal wetlands are a key first line of defense to
    protect our interests and our people. Louisiana is home to
    approximately 30 percent of these national wetlands. But,
    tragically, we are losing roughly a football field's worth
    every hour and a half due to sediment starvation, saltwater
    intrusion, and erosion.
        In the decades to come, sea-level rise will play a larger
    and larger role in sustainability of our coast. Our communities
    have not moved from the Gulf for waterfront views, but the Gulf
    has moved to us.
        In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita underscored the
    importance of these coastal wetlands for protection of inland
    communities, including urban areas like the city of New Orleans
    but also less densely populated areas of the southwest.
        Some call us a canary in a coal mine or a harbinger of bad
    things soon to happen all around us. As Ranking Member Graves
    noted earlier, we have already lost 2,000 square miles of
    wetlands since the 1930s, and we stand to lose much more in the
    years to come without significant action.
        To others, we are a living laboratory, a testing ground for
    new opportunities and a place where community needs, cutting-
    edge science, effective natural and manmade infrastructure, and
    good public policy can come together to balance interests of
    economy and environment.
        But regardless of if you take the pessimistic or optimistic
    view, it cannot be denied that we have all of the elements
    necessary to craft a large-scale solution for our country. We
    have a long, painful history of natural disasters and lived
    experience of coastal land loss. We have a strong culture of
    appreciation for our natural environment from a recreation and
    commercial point of view. And we have an economy that is deeply
    connected to access and utilization of energy resources.
        We have also found a way to deal with the impacts of our
    changing coast that prioritizes science-based decisionmaking
    and minimized politics. And since 2007, through our Coastal
    Master Plan, we have completed 111 projects across 20 of our
    coastal parishes.
        So, in conclusion, as a Louisianan, I understand climate
    change. It is something my State lives with every day. Even as
    we sit here today, our Louisiana coastline is shrinking. People
    are migrating inland, and unique Louisiana cultures are being
    swept into the Gulf.
        So, for these reasons, I ask you to consider my testimony
    and the urgency with which we must address this massive
    problem.
        Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to share the
    urgency of what we face and what I am doing back home to help
    shape a better future for our coast, my state, and our nation.
        [The statement of Ms. Cooper follows:]
                                   __________

    Statement of Lindsay Cooper, The Louisiana Governor's Office of Coastal
                                   Activities

        Good morning Chairwoman Castor, Ranking Member Graves, and Members
    of the Committee. My name is Lindsay Cooper, and I want to thank you
    for the opportunity to discuss a Louisiana perspective on climate
    concerns. Louisiana is, in many respects, the perfect case study for
    this committee as it grapples with a path forward for the nation in
    regard to climate change and its associated impacts. Before further
    detailing the role of Louisiana in this discussion, let me first
    introduce myself. I was born, raised, and educated on the north shore
    of Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana. I attended Tulane University for my
    bachelor's degree where I graduated in Marine Biology and Public Policy
    in December 2018. During college I served as an environmental advocacy
    volunteer with No Waste Nola, a local nonprofit that fights to reduce
    waste in New Orleans; interned for the Gulf Restoration Network, a
    nonprofit focused on science-based coastal protection; served as a
    research assistant with the Tulane Institute of Water Resources Law and
    Policy; and, became President of the Tulane University Green Club my
    sophomore year.
        Last year, I also served as a Louisiana Governor's Fellow where I
    had the privilege to work with Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and
    his Coastal Activities Office directly on state-wide policy
    initiatives. It was in this time that I discovered the extent of our
    Louisiana coastal crisis and the imperative with which it must be
    addressed. Therefore, upon graduation, I joined Governor John Bel
    Edward's Office of Coastal Activities where I serve as a policy
    analyst. I work diligently alongside the Coastal Protection and
    Restoration Authority to move forward policies that promote coastal
    wetlands protection and restoration in Louisiana. However, it did not
    take my experiences in coastal policy to teach me that Louisiana faces
    unparalleled climate threats. In a state vulnerable to hurricanes,
    floods, and coastal degradation, my family and countless other lifelong
    friends have confronted devastation after devastation from increasingly
    intense weather events. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, my own family
    had to relocate for months while our schools were flooded, but many of
    my neighbors and friends were never able to return. In light of these
    circumstances, I am compelled to use my education and experience to
    fight for the culture, people, and the environment into which I was
    born. The Louisiana coast serves many national interests: fisheries,
    energy production, port, navigation, and trade activities; it provides
    countless ecosystem services and is home to over two million people.
    Our coastal wetlands are a key first line of defense to protect these
    interests and our people. Louisiana is home to approximately 30 percent
    of the nation's wetlands. Tragically, we are losing roughly a football
    field's worth of coastal wetlands every hour and a half due to sediment
    starvation, saltwater intrusion, and erosion. In the decades to come,
    sea level rise will play a larger and larger role in the sustainability
    of coastal Louisiana. Our communities have not moved to the Gulf for
    waterfront views, but the Gulf has moved to us. In 2005, Hurricanes
    Katrina and Rita underscored the importance of our coastal wetlands for
    the protection of inland communities including urban areas like the
    City of New Orleans and less densely populated portions of the
    southwest. In 2006, the Louisiana Legislature created the Coastal
    Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), a first in the nation
    organization tasked with coordinating the local and state efforts to
    save our coast. CPRA is responsible for developing the state's Coastal
    Master Plan every six years which calls for a $50 billion investment in
    over 100 coastal protection and restoration projects over the next 50
    years. These projects are essential both to create a stronger and more
    resilient coast and to reduce wetlands loss. The Master Plan is based
    on sound science, public input and bipartisan approval from the state
    legislature.
        Some call us a canary in the coal mine or harbingers of bad things
    soon to happen around us. We have lost 2,000 square miles of coastline
    since the 1930s and stand to lose much more in the years to come
    without significant action. To others, we are a living laboratory, a
    testing ground for new opportunities, and a place where community
    needs, cutting edge science, effective natural and manmade
    infrastructure, and good public policy can come together to balance the
    interests of economy and environment.
        Regardless of whether you take the pessimistic or optimistic view
    of the outcome, it cannot be denied that we have all the elements
    necessary to craft a large-scale solution for the country. We have a
    long, painful history of natural disasters and lived experience of
    coastal land loss. We have a strong culture of appreciation for our
    natural environment from a recreation and commercial point of view. And
    we have an economy that is deeply connected to access and utilization
    of energy resources located offshore. We have also found a way to deal
    with the impacts of our changing coast that prioritizes science-based
    decision making and minimized politics. And we have completed 111
    projects across all 20 of our coastal parishes since 2007.
        In 2017 the Louisiana Legislature unanimously approved the third
    iteration of our Coastal Master Plan. When we developed our first plan
    in 2007, we had no money, but we knew that we needed a principled
    approach to make hard decisions and allocate scarce resources. We
    amended our state constitution with tremendous public support to
    dedicate all revenues we receive from the federal government from
    offshore oil and gas development to coastal protection and restoration.
    And in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the state also
    has relied on the Coastal Master Plan to guide our recovery and drive
    the investment of nearly $8 billion that will come to the State through
    2032 as part of the settlement.
        In conclusion, as a Louisianan, I understand climate change. It's
    something my state lives with every day. Even as we sit here today, our
    Louisiana coastal wetlands are shrinking; people are migrating inland;
    some unique Louisiana cultures are being swept into the Gulf. For these
    reasons, I ask you to consider my testimony and the urgency with which
    we must work together to confront this massive problem. Thank you for
    allowing me this opportunity to share the urgency of what we face and
    what I am doing back home to help shape a better future for our coast,
    our state and our nation.

        Ms. Castor. Thank you, Ms. Cooper.
        Mr. Piper, your turn. You are recognized for 5 minutes.

                         STATEMENT OF AJI PIPER

        Mr. Piper. Chair Castor, Ranking Member Graves, and
    distinguished members of the Select Committee on the Climate
    Crisis, thank you for inviting me to provide testimony.
        My name is Aji Piper. I am 18 years old and one of the 21
    young Americans who filed the landmark constitutional climate
    lawsuit, Juliana v. United States.
        While I am not a lawyer nor a climate scientist and I only
    recently came of voting age, I know that I have constitutional
    rights at stake in the actions you take. And I know from
    studying climate science and living with the consequences of
    climate change today that my health, my community, and my
    future and that of my generation is at stake. And I am here to
    speak to you as a young person on the greatest issue of our
    time: climate change.
        It is the constitutional duty of the government to protect
    public-trust resources on which we all depend and to protect us
    from any damages that it may inflict upon its citizens.
    Instead, the government is taking actions that are directly
    contributing to the destruction of our planet. It is actively
    abusing the trust of its most vulnerable citizens, the youth.
        Growing up, my mom always told me that to be an adult is to
    take responsibility for my actions and the way that those
    actions impact others. She told me that to be a leader is to
    take responsibility for the well-being of my community and to
    actively work to make it safer and healthy for everyone. I took
    that advice to heart. I got involved in activism from an early
    age, planting trees with a nonprofit organization.
        But as I got older, I began to realize that the
    environmental issues facing my community were much larger than
    could reasonably be dealt with just by planting trees. Seeing
    the skies of my hometown filled with smoke, seeing our snow
    pack diminish and our oceans become a rising threat to coastal
    communities and an unsafe acidic home to shellfish in
    Washington, I knew that in order to fulfill my responsibility
    to myself and my community, I needed to broaden the scope of my
    civic engagement in order to truly address the issue of climate
    change.
        Like youth who have come before us in the civil rights
    movement and other social justice movements, it is often the
    young among us that shine the light on systems of injustice.
    And just as my federal government orchestrated systems of
    racial segregation in housing policies and sanctioned
    discrimination in schools until the middle of the last
    century--policies that harmed children--my federal government
    has also orchestrated and sanctioned a system of fossil fuel
    energy that is harming children in another way, that is
    irreversibly threatening our personal security, our health, our
    homes, and our communities by creating a dangerous climate
    system.
        So, in 2015, 21 young people, myself included, filed a
    lawsuit against the United States and agencies of the executive
    branch to safeguard our constitutional right to a stable
    climate.
        Since then, first the Obama administration and now the
    Trump administration has done everything in their power to stop
    our case from going to trial, making unprecedented requests of
    the courts, and this is simply because they are scared of what
    trial will reveal.
        During the litigation, our attorneys found hundreds of
    documents demonstrating the United States Government's
    knowledge of the threats of greenhouse gas emissions and
    climate change since 1961. In short, our government has
    consciously sanctioned climate destruction for more than five
    decades.
        And because climate change is a systemic issue, it requires
    systemic change to address it. The burdens of the system's
    problems cannot be placed on the shoulders of an individual,
    especially not a young person. To combat the systemwide
    government actions that have led to the climate crisis, we need
    a systemwide reform at the governmental level to address this
    emergency.
        And for this to happen, we need all three branches of
    government to act in concert. The courts need to declare our
    constitutional rights and mandate the standard to protect us.
    This branch should also recognize our constitutional rights,
    make legislative findings on the best science, and enact
    legislation not based on political will but scientific
    necessity of stopping this catastrophe. The executive needs to
    be held accountable to the rule of law and stop promoting
    propaganda in support of fossil fuels and promoting lies about
    the climate crisis.
        While government may play an important role in providing
    for our nation's energy, housing, and schools, we don't need
    segregated housing and schools and we don't need dangerous
    fossil energy. We need policies that don't discriminate and
    don't harm children.
        All of you took an oath to uphold our Constitution and
    secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
    In 2016, Judge Ann Aiken issued a historic opinion in our
    lawsuit, writing that ``the right to a climate system capable
    of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered
    society.''
        And so I ask the committee: What is your plan to honor your
    oath and ensure my right and the rights of young people around
    the nation to liberty and a stable climate, as mandated by the
    Constitution?
        You have a choice. Will you deprive your children and young
    people across the country of their fundamental right to
    liberty, or will you fight to protect us and our nation for
    posterity? What will you tell your children about
    responsibility if you fail to act now in the face of crisis?
        When you leave office, I want you to be able to walk away
    knowing you gave it your all, knowing you can be proud of the
    legacy that you leave. The moment is now. The moment is not for
    fear or incrementalism. This is the moment for heroism, for
    humanity, for standing with children around our country,
    standing with me.
        Please join your colleagues and publicly support our
    lawsuit. Join any future amicus--sorry--curiae--thank you. I
    always forget how to pronounce that word--amicus curiae briefs
    that Members of Congress file in support of our constitutional
    rights and the judiciary exercising its Article III powers in
    our case and show children everywhere you care about their
    future and the future of all generations to come.
        Thank you so much.
        [The statement of Mr. Piper follows:]
                                   __________

      Aji Piper, Climate Activist and Youth Plaintiff, Juliana v. United
                                     States

        Chair Castor, Ranking Member Graves, and distinguished Members of
    this Select Committee.
        Thank you for inviting me to provide testimony to your Select
    Committee on the Climate Crisis. My name is Aji Piper. I'm 18-years-
    old. I love vanilla bean ice cream, snowboarding, and writing songs on
    my ukulele. I love my family and my friends and my home near the Puget
    Sound in Seattle. And I am suing the United States government for
    knowingly causing climate change as the largest historic contributor to
    the problem and for continuing, even now, to make a dangerous situation
    worse.
        I have been reading climate science literature since I was 13-
    years-old. I have also been studying what my governments have done
    about the climate crisis during my lifetime, and even before I was
    born. For much of my life, I saw climate change as a problem that would
    be solved by adults in nice suits in a faraway Capitol. But as I grew
    up, and the coal and oil trains kept rolling through my hometown of
    Seattle, and the oil tankers kept sailing in and out of Puget Sound, I
    became apprehensive.
        The late summer skies over Seattle now regularly fill with wildfire
    smoke, people walk around in gas masks, our ocean waters around my
    hometown are acidifying and rising, and yet there are still politicians
    in Washington, D.C. talking about climate change as if it is an issue
    to debate and still talking about promoting fossil fuel energy as if
    the pollution from that energy source is not dangerously destroying the
    one planet we've got, and the lives and futures of children along with
    it. I got to a point where I felt like I could no longer wait for the
    solutions to come from the Capitol or the adults that are responsible
    to protect young people like myself.
        I am one of the 21 Youth Plaintiffs in the constitutional climate
    lawsuit, Juliana v. United States. Our complaint asserts that, through
    the federal government's affirmative actions in causing climate change,
    it has violated my constitutional rights, and those of my generation,
    to life, liberty, property, and equal protection under the law, as well
    as failed to protect vital public trust resources.\1\ While I am not a
    legal expert, nor a climate scientist, and I only recently came of
    voting age, the goal of my testimony is to explain my perspective on
    the most consequential and far-reaching issues of our time, an issue
    that all three branches of this government are duty bound to address.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\First Amended Complaint, Juliana et al. v. United States et al.,
    No. 6:15-cv-01517-AA (D. Or. Sept. 10, 2015) (Exhibit DD).

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        As a young black man, I have grown up with the long-lasting
    consequences of unconstitutional discrimination from government-
    sanctioned and -engineered segregation. My childhood was shadowed by
    trauma from an abusive father. The trajectory of his life was formed in
    part by generational trauma of unlawful discrimination. Generations of
    black families have lived with the lasting legacy of government-
    sponsored racial discrimination, not just in the South, but in places
    like Seattle, where white suburbs formed out of federal government
    policies with restrictive covenants on housing developments and
    federally-guaranteed loans to homeowners that only whites could take
    advantage of. Cities across the country are segregated because of these
    federal policies that were finally declared unconstitutional after
    World War II by the Supreme Court, and that this branch of government
    attempted to redress decades later in the Fair Housing Act of 1968.\2\
    But the damage had been done and the legacy of that unconstitutional
    government conduct remains today in the color and shape of our
    communities, the makeup of our schools, the voting districts, and the
    disparity in those who were able to acquire home equity and wealth and
    those who were not. Unconstitutional systemic government actions have
    long-lasting social consequences. Innocent children inherit those
    legacies.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \2\The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government
    Segregated America, Richard Rothstein (2017).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        In response to decades of unconstitutional discrimination, in May
    of 1963, thousands of children led marches through Birmingham, Alabama
    to demand the desegregation of the city in a movement now known as the
    Birmingham Children's Crusade. On the first day of the protest,
    hundreds of children were arrested. By the second day, police officers
    tried to stop the marches by using fire hoses and police dogs to attack
    the children. On May 10, 1963, within one week of the first march, the
    city acquiesced to the children's demands, agreeing to desegregate
    businesses and to free all who had been jailed during the
    demonstrations. These youth stood at the forefront of one of the most
    pivotal moments in civil rights reform in the United States, using non-
    violent protest as a means to advance human rights.
        Young people are often on the frontlines of human rights abuses,
    experiencing the most severe impacts of bigotry, oppression, and
    violence, sometimes in their own homes and often at the hands of adults
    in positions of power who do not act in the best interest of children.
    They are also inevitably at the forefront of the movements that emerge
    to address these issues, as we saw in the Child Labor Law Movement or
    the Civil Rights Movement.
        Climate change is no different. My generation, and generations to
    come, have the most to lose from the sweeping impacts of climate
    change. As a result, youth throughout the world have taken the lead in
    the movement to address this existential threat. Just last month, over
    a million students the world over walked out of class to demand urgent
    and sane climate action from the adults in charge.
        The entrenched federal government policies of orchestrating,
    promoting, supporting, subsidizing, sanctioning, and permitting a
    fossil fuel energy system will perpetrate as long-lasting harm on
    generations of innocent children as did this body's legal sanctioning
    and promotion of segregation. When government sanctions and controls a
    system that unconstitutionally deprives children of their basic
    fundamental rights to life, liberty and property, that system must be
    dismantled, and it is up to all three branches of this federal
    government to act now while there is still time to uphold the rights of
    my generation, to stop the perpetuation of intergenerational injustice.
    Our case, Juliana v. United States
        I, along with 20 other youth plaintiffs, Dr. James Hansen as
    guardian for future generations, and a youth-led organization called
    Earth Guardians, filed the landmark Juliana v. United States lawsuit in
    August 2015. Since the time our case was filed, when President Obama
    was in the White House, the federal defendants\3\ have done everything
    in their power to stop Juliana from going to trial. They have made
    unprecedented and drastic efforts to have it thrown out before we get
    our day in court. Nonetheless, we have won every step of the way. In
    November 2016, we received a historic opinion from U.S. District Court
    Judge Ann Aiken, who aptly began her decision by referring to Juliana
    as ``no ordinary lawsuit.''\4\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \3\The United States Of America; The Office Of The President Of The
    United States; Council On Environmental Quality; Office Of Management
    And Budget; Office Of Science And Technology Policy; The United States
    Department Of Energy; The United States Department Of The Interior; The
    United States Department Of Transportation; The United States
    Department Of Agriculture; The United States Department Of Commerce;
    The United States Department Of Defense; The United States Department
    Of State; The United States Environmental Protection Agency.
        \4\Juliana v. United States, 217 F. Supp. 3d 124 (D. Or. 2016)
    (Exhibit S).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Judge Aiken's opinion stated that:

              Exercising my `reasoned judgment,' . . . I have no doubt that
            the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life
            is fundamental to a free and ordered society. Just as marriage
            is the `foundation of the family,' a stable climate system is
            quite literally the foundation `of society, without which there
            would be neither civilization nor progress.'\5\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \5\Exhibit S.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        As part of her decision, the district court properly found the
    right ``to a climate system capable of sustaining human life'' is both
    fundamental to ordered liberty and deeply rooted in our Nation's
    history and traditions. The district court also found we should have an
    opportunity to present evidence to show that my federal government has
    knowingly violated this fundamental right.\6\ In response, the
    Executive Branch defendants say that: ``Plaintiffs' purported right to
    a `climate system capable of sustaining human life' has no basis
    whatsoever in this Nation's history or tradition and is therefore not a
    fundamental right.''\7\ My government leaders are denying that the very
    foundation of life on Earth, our climate system, is one of my
    unalienable rights as a human living in this Nation. They say it is not
    one of the rights that I was endowed with when I was born. They say
    that my government can deprive me and all human civilization of the
    climate foundation of life, and discriminate against me, other children
    and all future generations in favor of supporting a fossil fuel-based
    economy and the narrow interests fossil fuels support, over policies
    that power clean energy and don't threaten my life and my security.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \6\See also District Court order granting in part and denying in
    part Defendants Motion for Summary Judgment and Motion for Judgment on
    the Pleadings (Exhibit T).
        \7\Defendants' Reply Brief on Interlocutory Appeal (Exhibit EE).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Our lawsuit makes a number of other claims, including that the
    United States government has a fiduciary responsibility to protect our
    public trust resources, such as the air, fresh water, the sea and the
    shores of the sea, not just for my generation, but for future
    generations as well. My co-plaintiffs and I are beneficiaries of rights
    under the public trust doctrine, unalienable rights that are secured by
    the substantive due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and the
    Posterity Clause of the Constitution. Defendants have failed in their
    duty of care to safeguard the interests of my generation as the present
    and future beneficiaries of the public trust.
        We have a tremendous amount of evidence, mostly from government
    documents, showing that the U.S. government has knowingly endangered
    our health and welfare by creating and promoting a national fossil
    fuel-based energy system, through controlling (1) Energy planning and
    policies; (2) fossil fuel extraction and production; (3) subsidies,
    financial and R&D support; (4) imports and exports; (5) interstate
    fossil fuel infrastructure and transport; (6) power plants and
    refineries; (7) energy standards for appliances, equipment, and
    buildings; (8) road, rail, freight, and air transportation; (9)
    government operations.\8\ All of these deliberate orchestrated actions
    by the United States have cumulatively resulted in dangerous levels of
    atmospheric CO2, which deprive us of our fundamental rights to life,
    liberty, and property. Importantly, the Defendants have admitted many
    of the allegations in our complaint, including that greenhouse gases
    ``pose risks to human health and welfare'' and ``threaten the public
    health and welfare of current and future generations;'' that the U.S.
    has emitted 25 percent of cumulative global CO2 emissions from 1850 to
    2012; and current CO2 concentrations are ``unprecedented for at least
    2.6 million years.''\9\
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        \8\Expert Report of James Gustave (``Gus'') Speth (Exhibit U);
    Declaration of Peter A. Erickson (Exhibit E).
        \9\Defendants Answer para.para.5, 151, 208-09; 213 (Exhibit FF);
    Exhibit R.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        While the Defendants have been unsuccessful at stopping our case,
    they have certainly delayed it, and time is not on our side. Just weeks
    before we were set to begin what would have been, and certainly will
    be, the most important trial of the century for my generation, the
    Supreme Court issued a temporary stay of our trial in order to consider
    whether to stay our case and review it before a final decision.\10\
    While the Supreme Court ultimately denied the defendants' request and
    lifted the stay, the case has bounced up and down between the U.S.
    Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the District
    Court, while fossil fuels continue to be extracted and burned.\11\ As
    our planet drifts ever-closer to the point of no return, we knew we had
    to do something.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \10\In re United States, 139 S. Ct. 16, vacated, 139 S. Ct. 452
    (2018).
        \11\For the briefing before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on
    the government's interlocutory appeal see Exhibit P (Defendants'
    Opening Brief); Exhibit Q (Plaintiffs' Answer Brief); Exhibit EE
    (Defendants' Reply Brief); see also Exhibit O (Amicus brief submitted
    by 80 law professors in support of Plaintiffs).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Our request for a Preliminary Injunction during the Delay on Appeal
        In February, we filed a motion to the Ninth Circuit Court of
    Appeals seeking an injunction to stop the actions by the U.S.
    government that are continuing to put me and other young people in
    danger by worsening climate change. Specifically, we asked:

              This Court should preliminarily enjoin, for the
            pendency of this interlocutory appeal, Defendants from
            authorizing through leases, permits, or other federal
            approvals: (1) mining or extraction of coal on Federal
            Public Lands; (2) offshore oil and gas exploration,
            development, or extraction on the Outer Continental
            Shelf; and (3) development of new fossil fuel
            infrastructure, in the absence of a national plan that
            ensures the above-denoted authorizations are consistent
            with preventing further danger to these young
            Plaintiffs.\12\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \12\Exhibit A.

        This injunction is urgently needed because, despite long-
    standing knowledge of the resulting destruction to our Nation
    and the profound harm to myself and my co-plaintiffs, the
    federal government's ongoing development of the fossil fuel-
    based energy system is actively harming us and making it more
    difficult for us to ever solve this crisis. While a complete
    halt on these actions may seem like a radical request to some
    of you, scientists tell us that nothing short of stopping these
    kinds of additional fossil fuel development can avert the worst
    effects of climate change, and prevent us from entering a
    period of irreversible baked-in, or runaway, heating. I wish
    incremental actions were enough, but the government's long-
    standing actions perpetuating a fossil fuel energy system have
    put us in this situation. But here's the upshot, our top
    experts say that neither the injunction we seek, nor our
    ultimate remedy in the case will hurt the economy. In fact,
    they say that it will help the economy and create new jobs, and
    is our only real shot at preventing our economy from tanking
    from the increasing costs of climate disasters, the enormous
    economic threats that climate change poses, and the lost
    opportunity to lead the market transition away from fossil
    fuels that other nations are outpacing us on.\13\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \13\Declaration of Joseph E. Stiglitz (Exhibit I).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Please listen to the experts; The harm is real and is happening to us
            now

        In Juliana v. United States, my co-plaintiffs and I are
    very fortunate to be supported by some of the world's top
    climate change science and solution experts. I've included some
    of their written expert testimony as attachments to my
    testimony and I encourage you to read them.
        According to Dr. Jerome Paulson, Professor Emeritus at
    George Washington University who submitted a declaration in
    support of our preliminary injunction filing: ``Each month that
    passes by without action by the federal government to reduce
    fossil fuel extraction and GHG emissions exacerbates this
    already grave public health emergency facing our nation's most
    vulnerable population--our children.''\14\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \14\Exhibit D, p. 7.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz testified:
    ``There is no urgency to promote more fossil fuels. There is no
    urgency for energy supply. There is no urgency for employment
    or economic growth. There is, however, real urgency to stop the
    climate crisis and the already-dangerous status quo from
    worsening, and to protect these young people's constitutional
    rights. There are very real and substantial societal costs and
    risks of moving forward with these fossil fuel enterprises
    while this lawsuit is pending.''\15\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \15\Exhibit I, p. 15.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Dr. Steve Running, Professor Emeritus at the University of
    Montana and Nobel prize winner testified: ``The Federal
    Government has for many years had knowledge, information, and
    scientific recommendations that it needed to transition the
    Nation off of fossil fuels in order to first prevent against,
    and now try to stop, catastrophic climate change. We are well
    beyond the maxim: `If you find yourself in a hole, quit
    digging.'''\16\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \16\Exhibit G, p. 26.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Dr. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Professor of Marine Studies and the
    Director of the Global Change Institute at The University of
    Queensland stated in his declaration: ``Th[e] absolute amount
    of excess heat absorbed by our oceans is tremendous: the
    equivalent of energy from approximately 1.5 Hiroshima-sized
    atomic bombs per second over the past 150 years, at-present the
    equivalent of approximately 3 6 Hiroshima-sized bombs every
    second'' (see Figure 1).\17\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \17\Exhibit F, p. 4.

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

            Figure 1: Distribution of global-warming energy accumulation
            (heat) relative to 1971 and from 1971 to 2011. Half of the
            human-produced global warming heat has entered the ocean since
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            1997.\18\

        \18\Chart is a modified version of a chart found in Nuccitelli, D.
    et al., Comment on Ocean heat content and Earth's radiation imbalance.
    II. Relation to climate shifts, Physics Letters A, Vol. 376, Issue 14
    (2012).

        Over the past month, we have heard stories on the news of entire
    towns in the midwest wiped off of the map by massive flooding events
    triggered by a historic `bomb cyclone.' Hurricane Florence, which hit
    North Carolina last fall and brought historic flooding, Hurricane
    Michael, which flattened the community of Mexico Beach, Florida in
    2018, and Hurricane Maria that decimated Puerto Rico in 2017, have
    become our new normal. These storms will only get worse unless we take
    urgent action.\19\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \19\Declaration of Kevin E. Trenberth (Exhibit B).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        My fellow plaintiff Jayden experienced one of these climate change-
    driven super storms first hand in 2016, when she woke up to find feet
    of standing water in her bedroom. Her house in Rayne, Louisiana had
    been flooded in a `thousand-year storm', yet these storms seem to be
    coming year after year. Her family is still making repairs on their
    home after three years.\20\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \20\Exhibit W.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Wildfire
        It's not just storms that we have to worry about. I have
    experienced firsthand how wildfire seasons extended by two and a half
    months throughout the west are shrouding our communities with smoke for
    months on end, causing innumerable respiratory health issues, and
    taxing our emergency response funds (see Figure 2). It is not just
    rural communities that are experiencing this smoke, it is urban areas
    as well. I never thought that living in the United States would come
    with air quality warnings advising me to stay inside and school and
    youth sports activities being canceled so we aren't harmed by breathing
    the air. I can't tell you how scary it is to see people walking down
    the street in gas masks in August in Seattle, which used to be the most
    beautiful time to be outside in the Pacific Northwest.\21\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \21\Declaration of Steven W. Running (Exhibit G); Declaration of
    Aji. P (Exhibit X).

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

            Figure 2: Wildfire smoke shrouds Seattle.\22\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \22\Agueda Pacheco-Flores, Puget Sound air-quality warnings: Beware
    of smoke from British Columbia fires, The Seattle Times (Aug. 13,
    2018); available at: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/british-
    columbia-wildfire-smoke-is-impacting-air-quality-warnings-issued-for-
    vulnerable-groups/.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Sea Level Rise
        If we don't make serious change now, in just a few decades some the
    largest cities in the United States will first become uninhabitable and
    then be entirely submerged, as well a vast majority of the state of
    Florida. My fellow plaintiff, Levi, will watch his family home and the
    entire island that he grew up on go underwater with just a few feet of
    sea level rise, which could hit by mid-century. He will become a
    climate refugee long before then (see Figures 3 and 4).\23\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \23\Declaration of Levi D. (Exhibit Y); Declaration of Dr. James
    Hansen (Exhibit L); see also Hansen, J., et al., (2016). Ice melt, sea
    level rise and superstorms: Evidence from paleoclimate data, climate
    modeling, and modern observations that 2+C global warming could be
    dangerous. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 3761 3812, doi:10.5194/acp-16-3761-
    2016.

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

            Figure 3: U.S. government sea level rise projections through
            2100.\24\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \24\Exhibit Z.

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

            Figure 4: Sea level rise projections for southern Florida.\25\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \25\Exhibit Z.

        The economic impacts of sea level rise to our country will be
    astronomical. Just 25 years from now, coastal properties in the U.S.
    worth some $136 billion will be at risk of chronic flooding. By the end
    of the century, that rises to $1 trillion in properties at risk of
    chronic flooding--not to mention the billions of dollars that would be
    lost in other sectors.\26\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \26\Union of Concerned Scientists, Underwater: Rising Seas, Chronic
    Floods, and the Implication for US Coastal Real Estate (2018),
    available at: https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/global-warming-
    impacts/sea-level-rise-chronic-floods-and-us-coastal-real-estate-
    implications.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    National Security Threat
        Many people in communities throughout the United States, including
    some along the Washington coast, are already being forced from their
    homes because of flooding and sea level rise. All of these people, and
    many more, will be displaced permanently if we do not act now. This
    displacement would in turn lead to massive geo-political
    destabilization. An expert declaration provided by retired Vice Admiral
    and Former Inspector General of the United States Department of the
    Navy, Lee Gunn, states:

              Climate change is the most serious national security threat
            facing our Nation today. Climate change contributes to
            increased extreme weather events, rapidly changing coastlines,
            and conflicts over basic resources like food and water, which
            lead to humanitarian crises with increased migration and
            refugee flows. Climate change is a ``threat multiplier'' and
            ``catalyst for conflict'' and directly threatens our military
            and the ``Department of Defense's ability to defend the
            Nation.'' Climate change poses unprecedented risks to our
            Nation's economic prosperity, public health and safety, and
            international stability.

        Vice Admiral Gunn goes on:

              The great danger for young people, is that they are being
            handed a situation that is out of their control, a situation
            made more egregious due to the fact that the Defendants have a
            complete understanding of precisely how dangerous the situation
            is that they are handing down to these Plaintiffs.\27\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \27\Exhibit K.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Public Health
        The medical community across the country is sounding alarm bells
    about the public health emergency that climate change is causing. As an
    amicus brief filed in support of my case in the Ninth Circuit, on
    behalf of 78 doctors and medical professional and 14 medical
    organizations,\28\ stated:
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \28\The organization are: American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and
    Immunology; American Academy of Pediatrics; American Association of
    Community Psychiatrists; American Heart Association; American Lung
    Association; American Pediatric Society; American Thoracic Society;
    Infectious Diseases Society of America; International Society for
    Children's Health and the Environment; Medical Society Consortium on
    Climate and Health; National Association of County and City Health
    Officials; National Environmental Health Association; National Medical
    Association; and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

              The medical community widely considers the health effects of
            human-induced climate change, GHG emissions, and the other air
            pollutants that are emitted when fossil fuels are combusted to
            be significant public health threats, representing an
            unacceptably high level of risk for the current and future
            health of the U.S. population.\29\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \29\Exhibit N, p. 8.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                The Targets You Set Will Matter
        What is clear now is that climate change is already dangerously
    affecting people within the United States with 1 degree of warming. It
    is not just scientists who have come to that conclusion. My co-
    plaintiffs and I, along with other communities and individuals that are
    experiencing the devastating impacts I have just described, understand
    the perils of living in this climate system. The situation is only
    going to get worse if the planet becomes 1.5+C warmer than pre-
    industrial levels. This is the temperature target that is called for by
    the Paris Climate Accord. It is the target called for in the Green New
    Deal, and by the countless cities, states, and climate advocacy groups
    around the country that have endorsed it. To be clear, 1.5+C of
    warming, or approximately 425 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide
    in the atmosphere, is genocide, and a death sentence for human
    civilization as we know it. Even the 2018 IPCC report on the impacts of
    1.5+C concluded that allowing the globe to warm to 1.5+C will involve
    devastating impacts. Chapter 5 of the report states plainly that 1.5+C
    is not safe:

              Warming of 1.5+C is not considered `safe' for most nations,
            communities, ecosystems, and sectors and poses significant
            risks to natural and human systems as compared to current
            warming of 1+C (high confidence) (see Chapter 3, Section 3.4,
            Box 3.4, Box 3.5, Cross-Chapter Box 6 in Chapter 3).

        This body should never endorse a target that destroys Levi's island
    and much of Florida or my Puget Sound, damages the lungs of children in
    the West, decimates the rich croplands of the midwest, or floods homes
    across the country from fossil fuel-fed unprecedented storms.
        The now-pervasive 1.5+C target first appeared in the lead up to the
    2009 UNFCCC Conference of Parties in Copenhagen, Denmark (COP 15), as a
    result of the advocacy of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).
    At a time where international political negotiations still revolved
    around 2+C, AOSIS advocated for ``well below 1.5+C,'' and relied on the
    work of Dr. James Hansen, one of our experts, and his colleagues'
    research arguing that a 350 ppm CO2 target was necessary to
    preserve a habitable climate.\30\ In later research, Hansen and his
    colleagues determined that 350 ppm would only lead to 1+C of long-term
    warming, which was an important target to aim for by 2100.\31\ Yet as
    time went on and contentious climate negotiations ran their course, the
    ``well below'' portion of AOSIS's ``well below 1.5+C'' position was
    lost, and the world's governments settled on 1.5+C as a compromise
    goal. But they did so without any scientific support for the notion
    that we would be safe with 1.5 degrees of warming.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \30\Hansen, J., et al., (2008). Target atmospheric CO2: Where
    should humanity aim? Open Atmos. Sci. J., 2, 217-231, doi:10.2174/
    1874282300802010217.
        \31\Hansen, J., et al., (2013). Assessing ``dangerous climate
    change'': Required reduction of carbon emissions to protect young
    people, future generations and nature. PLOS ONE, 8, e81648,
    doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0081648.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        We have to ask ourselves: Are we willing to `compromise' on our
    safety and our future?
        In the long term, 1.5+C warming means melting most of the ice
    sheets on the planet and more than 70 feet of sea level rise (see
    Figure 5).\32\ The reason we know this is because this is what sea
    levels were the last time carbon dioxide levels were as high as they
    are today. According to a study by McGranahan et. al., over 600 million
    people live within 30 feet above sea level.\33\ The Fourth National
    Climate Assessment, using modest estimates of sea level rise, found
    that ``[s]ea level rise might reshape the U.S. population distribution,
    with 13.1 million people potentially at risk of needing to migrate due
    to a SLR of 6 feet (about 2 feet less than the Extreme scenario) by the
    year 2100.''\34\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \32\Expert Report of Dr. Harold R. Wanless, p. 6-7 (Exhibit Z);
    Declaration of Eric Rignot (Exhibit H).
        \33\McGranahan, G., Balk, D., & Anderson, B. (2007). The rising
    tide: assessing the risks of climate change and human settlements in
    low elevation coastal zones. Environment and urbanization, 19(1), 17-
    37.7.
        \34\U.S. Global Change Research Program, ``Ch. 8 Coastal Effects'',
    Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II, Impacts, Risks, and
    Adaptation in the United States 335 (2018), https://
    nca2018.globalchange.gov.

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

            Figure 5: Map of the south Atlantic and Gulf coasts showing the
            inundation that would occur with 70 feet of sea level rise.\35\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \35\Exhibit Z.

        All of these people, and more, will be displaced if we allow the
    1.5+C target to remain in place. Even the 2018 IPCC report plainly
    states that 1.5+C warming is not safe, but governments and groups
    continue to push us towards this disaster. At 1.5+C we also lose the
    worlds coral reefs and ocean life becomes threatened, meaning our food
    sources disappear and the rich biodiversity of our planet crashes.
        The writing is on the wall: this body needs to look beyond the
    arbitrary 1.5+C target for one that is based in the best available
    science, and that will allow us to avoid the most grievous impacts of
    climate change. Scientists tell us that 1+C (350 ppm CO2) is
    the maximum level of long-term warming that our civilization can
    survive this century. And we likely need to return even closer to
    preindustrial CO2 levels of 280 ppm over the longer term. So
    why aren't we acting like it?
        Is it radical to seek integration of all schools instead of just
    some? Is it radical to stand up for the rights of children and future
    generations? Is it radical to want to stop the danger we face? Is it
    radical to want to save what you love?
    A Remedy is Still Possible but the Window is Closing
        We have the technology to follow the path of emissions reductions
    the experts say we need to in order to have a chance at health and
    survival for us and our planet. It is within reach to transition to a
    decarbonized energy system by 2050, and to increase natural carbon
    sequestration through reforestation and sustainable agriculture to
    bring us back to 350 ppm by the end of the century.\36\ The U.S. needs
    to do its part in the world to make that happen. It will not happen
    without us.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \36\Declaration of Mark Z. Jacobson (Exhibit C); Declaration of
    James H. Williams (Exhibit J); Exhibit V.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        While many critics often cite the expense of a transition to
    renewable energy, experts expect a transition off of fossil fuels would
    have a minimal increase on national energy costs, and the costs would
    be well below the historic spikes in energy costs due to volatile
    fossil energy prices (see Figure 6).\37\ This temporary increase in
    energy system costs is trivial compared to the oppressive costs we can
    expect if we continue to stumble our way into an unmitigated climate
    catastrophe.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \37\Exhibit V.

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

            Figure 6: Total spending on the U.S. energy system represented
            as a percentage of GDP. Historical spikes from the 1970s oil
            crisis and high oil prices in 2006 2010. Modeled variations on
            the right illustrate the cost of multiple scenarios that
            transition the U.S. off of fossil fuels by 2050.\38\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \38\Williams, J. et al. Assessing the feasibility of 350 PPM
    CO2 targets in the United States. 2019.

        Because CO2 is the primary driver of climate
    destabilization, all government policies regarding CO2
    pollution and CO2 sequestration should be aimed at reducing
    global COCO2 concentrations below 350 ppm by 2100. Other
    greenhouse gases should also be reduced as much as possible and as
    rapidly as possible. Time is running out. We can no longer afford to
    base greenhouse gas reduction targets, with tangible consequences for
    life and death, on politics rather than science.
        We are at a critical juncture--never in my life have I seen so much
    momentum to address the climate challenge. We must not waste this
    energy, and as such, we must reevaluate our goals and where they are
    coming from. We can't truly succeed if we're relying on targets based
    on political compromise instead of the best available science.
        We have a fundamental right to a liveable future, and that future
    requires us to limit global warming to 1+C by the end of the century.
    Long-Standing Government Knowledge
        My involvement in the Juliana lawsuit has given me insight into the
    injustices of climate change, and a better understanding of the United
    States Government's responsibility for it.\39\ In preparing our case,
    we uncovered documents that show us that the Government has known about
    the threats of carbon dioxide for more than half a century. One of my
    co-plaintiffs, Alex, uncovered a 1961 letter to President Kennedy,
    where U.S. Senator Clinton Anderson voices the predictions of
    scientists about catastrophic climate change and sea level rise due to
    fossil fuel CO2 emissions.\40\ Just a few years later,
    President Lyndon B. Johnson received a more pointed warning in a report
    from noted climate scholar Charles David Keeling, and dozens of
    university researchers, that ``man is unwittingly conducting a vast
    geophysical experiment,'' by burning fossil fuels.\41\ This 1965 White
    House report clearly outlined the connection between the burning of
    fossil fuels and climate change (see Figure 7).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \39\Expert Report of James Gustave (``Gus'') Speth (Exhibit U).
        \40\Exhibit BB.
        \41\Report of the Environmental Pollution Panel President's Science
    Advisory Committee, Restoring the Quality of our Environment (1965);
    available at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id
    =uc1.b4116127;view=1up;seq=11.

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

            Figure 7: Cover of 1965 Restoring the Quality of our
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Environment report.

        Back in September 1969, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Urban Affairs
    Adviser to President Nixon, wrote White House counsel John Ehrlichman
    stating that CO2 emissions resulting from burning fossil
    fuels was a problem perhaps on the scale of ``apocalyptic change,''
    threatening the loss of cities like New York and Washington D.C. from
    sea level rise. The 1969 Moynihan Letter urged the Federal Government
    to immediately address this threat. Moynihan wrote that it was ``pretty
    clearly agreed'' that carbon dioxide content would rise 25 percent by
    2000. ``This could increase the average temperature near the earth's
    surface by 7 degrees Fahrenheit. This in turn could raise the level of
    the sea by 10 feet. Goodbye New York. Goodbye Washington, for that
    matter.''\42\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \42\Exhibit CC.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Despite these warnings, and the many more that followed, our
    nation's leaders actively perpetuated climate change by permitting
    fossil fuel extraction on public lands and subsidizing fossil fuel
    extraction (see Figure 8).

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

            Figure 8: U.S. fossil fuel production and CO2 concentration for
            every presidential administration since President Truman.\43\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \43\Exhibit U.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Historical Precedent for Our Case and Our Unalienable Rights
        The Juliana v. United States lawsuit is not without precedent. In
    fact, it has ample support in the historic record, and even in the
    words of the Framers of the U.S. Constitution. According to expert
    historian Andrea Wulf, there are deep roots to the constitutional right
    to a stable climate. In her expert report, she discusses how the
    Founders believed that ``Nature is the domain of liberty,'' linking
    national ``happiness, dignity, and independence'' to the quality of the
    lands. She goes on the discuss how James Madison's speech of 1818 was
    ``emblematic of how deeply rooted the importance of nature in balance
    was to the Framers and to the young nation'':

              Madison was the first American politician to write that `the
            atmosphere is the breath of life. Deprived of it, they all
            equally perish,' referencing animals, man and plants. He spoke
            of the balanced composition of the atmosphere and the give and
            take of animals and plants, which allowed the atmosphere the
            aptitude to function so as to support life and the health of
            beings, according to nature's laws.\44\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \44\Exhibit AA.

        The Framers adopted John Locke's philosophy (``laws human must be
    made according to the general laws of Nature . . . otherwise they are
    ill made'') that human laws must conform to nature's laws for the
    preservation of humankind. As such, Thomas Jefferson wrote extensively
    about this concept, stating ``that our Creator made the earth for the
    use of the living and not of the dead . . . that one generation men
    cannot foreclose or burthen its use to another.''\45\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \45\Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Earle, Sept. 24 1823, The Writings
    of Thomas Jefferson vol. VII, 310-11 (H.A. Washington ed. 1854).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        All of these examples clearly demonstrate the fact that, while the
    Founding Fathers were unable to foresee the grave threat of human-
    caused climate change hundreds of years ago, they nevertheless intended
    to enshrine the protection of the public trust into our nation's
    constitution, and to ensure the fundamental right of present and future
    generations to access to the natural resources that previous
    generations benefitted from, and on which human survival depends.
        Wulf goes on to reference other American presidents who have voiced
    the Government's responsibility to preserve the natural world for
    future generations, such as Theodore Roosevelt, who said:

              The function of our Government is to insure to all its
            citizens, now and hereafter, their rights to life, liberty and
            the pursuit of happiness. If we of this generation destroy the
            resources from which our children otherwise derive their
            livelihood, we reduce the capacity of our land to support a
            population, and so either degrade the standard of living or
            deprive the coming generations of their right to life on this
            continent.\46\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \46\Exhibit AA.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In Conclusion
        Growing up with the looming threat of climate change has had
    lasting impacts on my mental health. Thinking about the future has been
    a constant source of anxiety and depression for me. I have felt as if
    there is a pressure cooker boiling over inside of me. I can hardly
    focus at times because I am overwhelmed with existential horror about
    the fate of planet.
        I am a child of abuse. I know the feel of it on my skin and deep in
    my psyche. And what my government is doing to perpetuate indefinitely
    fossil fuel energy, and not take urgent comprehensive action to try to
    stop climate change, is a form of abuse on young people, who don't have
    the votes or the lobbying money to stop it. But we cannot just sit back
    and take it. Not anymore. Government actions that ramp up the danger,
    hurt our health, destroy our homes, endanger our communities, and scar
    our emotional wellbeing must stop.
        My climate change-induced state of panic is not uncommon amongst my
    peers. According to Dr. Lise Van Susteren, another expert on our case
    and an Advisor for the Harvard Medical School Center for Health and the
    Global Environment, ``it is the emotional toll of climate change that
    is even more catastrophic, especially for our children. It has the
    capacity to destroy children psychologically.''\47\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \47\Exhibit M, p. 4.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        In Judge Aiken's 2016 opinion, she cites the Supreme Court when it
    wrote in Obergefell v. Hodges:

              The nature of injustice is that we may not always see it in
            our own times. The generations that wrote and ratified the Bill
            of Rights . . . did not presume to know the extent of freedom
            in all its dimensions, and so they entrusted to future
            generations a charter protecting the right of all persons to
            enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning. When new insight reveals
            discord between the Constitution's central protections and a
            received legal stricture, a claim to liberty must be
            addressed.\48\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \48\Exhibit S.

        Today I am telling you, Judge Aiken was right: ``the right to a
    climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a
    free and ordered society.''
        I didn't become a climate activist because I like shouting outside
    of Government buildings or because I want to put my body on the line to
    block a tar sands pipeline.\49\ I became a climate activist because I
    know that it is my moral responsibility to do everything in my power to
    stop catastrophic climate change. Your generation and the ones before
    you, sitting in your seats in positions of power, have decimated our
    planet. My words stand before you, representing the voices of millions
    of children, youth and future generations, who are trying to clean up
    the mess of our forebears. For years, the federal government and the
    same adults who created the disaster have marginalized us. No more.
    Climate change is here now. Waiting for the future is already too late.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \49\Today, April 2, 2019, Judge Mary Ann Driscoll of Boston, MA
    just found that 13 people acting in civil disobedience to protect our
    climate from more fossil fuel projects were found not responsible in
    light of their necessity defense that their actions were necessary to
    protect life. http://www.climatedisobedience.org/
    raw_audio_westrox_climatetrial_27march2018.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        It is clear: Without youth leadership and a constitutional
    guidepost, legislative efforts won't save us in time. The Executive
    Branch won't even fully admit climate change is real, and its leaders
    do the bidding of the fossil fuel industry. Half measures and
    incrementalism will only modestly delay the worst impacts of climate
    change. If we want a future worth living, all three branches of our
    federal government must recognize our unalienable rights are at stake
    and work with the youth at the forefront of this movement, to guarantee
    that the constitutional right to a stable climate is recognized and
    protected in the United State of America.
        Forget about being on the right side of history. If there even are
    history books, it will be because of the efforts that we are taking
    today. Be on the side of young people right now. Act as if our
    fundamental rights to life, liberty, property and equal protection
    under the law are as important as yours, those who came before us, and
    those who will come after us. We are all connected, and the work you do
    during your terms in this powerful office, should be on the right side
    of the youth who sit before you and we ask you to stand with us.
        That is why I am asking all of you and this entire House to endorse
    the fundamental rights and the remedy sought in Juliana v. United
    States on the record, and to sign on to amicus curiae briefs in support
    of me and my co-plaintiffs, as your other colleagues have, including
    Senators Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley, and Sheldon Whitehouse, and
    Representatives Debra Haaland, Peter DeFazio, Earl Blumenauer, and
    Rashida Tlaib.
        We all have a moral imperative. And you have a constitutional one.
    If not us, then who? If not now, then when? If not for me, do it for
    your children, and your children's children, and for all life as we
    know it. Do it because when you took office, you made an oath ``to
    uphold our Constitution'' and ``secure the blessings of liberty to
    ourselves and Our Posterity.''
        I will do my best to address any questions that you may have.
        Thank you.
                                             Aji Piper,
                           Plaintiff, Juliana v. United States,
                                       Beneficiary of the Public Trust,
                                              and the U.S. Constitution
                                    exhibits
    Exhibit A  Urgent Motion for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit B  Declaration of Kevin E. Trenberth in Support of Urgent
            Motion for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit C  Declaration of Mark Z. Jacobson in Support of Urgent Motion
            for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit D  Declaration of Jerome A. Paulson in Support of Urgent Motion
            for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit E  Declaration of Peter A. Erickson in Support of Urgent Motion
            for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit F  Declaration of Ove Hoegh-Guldberg in Support of Urgent
            Motion for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit G  Declaration of Steven W. Running in Support of Urgent Motion
            for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit H  Declaration of Eric Rignot, Ph.D in Support of Urgent Motion
            for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit I  Declaration of Joseph E. Stiglitz, Ph.D in Support of Urgent
            Motion for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit J  Declaration of James H. Williams in Support of Urgent Motion
            for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit K  Declaration of Vice Admiral Lee Gunn, USN (Ret.) in Support
            of Urgent Motion for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit L  Declaration of Dr. James E. Hansen in Support of Urgent
            Motion for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit M  Expert Report of Lise Van Susteren, M.D.
    Exhibit N  Brief of Amici Curiae Public Health Experts, Public Health
            Organizations, and Doctors
    Exhibit O  Brief of Amicus Curiae Law Professors
    Exhibit P  Appellants' Opening Brief for Interlocutory Appeal
    Exhibit Q  Plaintiffs-Appellees' Answering Brief for Interlocutory
            Appeal
    Exhibit R  Findings & Recommendation, Thomas M. Coffin (May 1, 2017)
    Exhibit S  Opinion and Order-MTD, Ann Aiken (November 10, 2016)
    Exhibit T  Opinion and Order-MSJ, Ann Aiken (October 15, 2018)
    Exhibit U  Corrected Expert Report of James Gustave (``Gus'') Speth
    Exhibit V  Executive Summary of EER Research
    Exhibit W  Declaration of Jayden F. in Support of Plaintiffs'
            Opposition to Defendants' Motions Dismiss
    Exhibit X  Declaration of Aji P. in Support of Plaintiffs' Urgent
            Motion for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit Y  Declaration of Levi D. in Support of Plaintiffs' Urgent
            Motion for Preliminary Injunction
    Exhibit Z  Expert Report of Dr. Harold R. Wanless
    Exhibit AA  Expert Report of Andrea Wulf
    Exhibit BB  Clinton P. Anderson letter to President Kennedy (February
            14, 1961)
    Exhibit CC  Daniel P. Moynihan memo to John Ehrlichman (September 17,
            1969)
    Exhibit DD  First Amended Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive
            Relief
    Exhibit EE  Appellants' Reply Brief for Interlocutory Appeal
    Exhibit FF  Federal Defendants' Answer to First Amended Complaint for
            Declaratory and Injunctive Relief

        Ms. Castor. Thank you, Mr. Piper.
        Ms. Zhang, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.

                       STATEMENT OF MELODY ZHANG

        Ms. Zhang. Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to
    testify before you to tell my story about how I came to care
    about the climate crisis as an essential part of my Christian
    witness.
        My fascination with creation began ever since I started to
    speak. My first words, which were in Chinese, my heart
    language, were ``chuqu,'' which means ``go outside.'' There
    were seasons of my life devoted to poisonous frogs, another to
    Michigan birds. As a child, I was rapt with wonder, as children
    often are, with the richness and diversity of wildlife that can
    be found in God's creation. And when things got overwhelming, I
    retreated to my neighborhood parks, which served as a sanctuary
    for myself. I still do.
        The practice of the presence of God in creation opens up my
    imagination and teaches me to listen. ``Speak to the earth, and
    it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. In
    His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all
    mankind,'' reads Job.
        The scriptures elsewhere erupt with song and mention of
    God's abiding love for every corner of creation. Genesis 2:15
    says that ``the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden
    of Eden to cultivate it and take care of it.'' In the Hebrew,
    these two words are ``avad'' and ``shamar,'' and they appear
    often elsewhere in reference to God himself watching over and
    protecting us.
        To me, it is clear that God has entrusted this great gift
    of creation to us, with the responsibility to steward it with
    utmost intentionality.
        I love people. I can see the imago dei, the image of God,
    uniquely reflected in each person I meet. I believe that
    scripture could not be more clear about God's command to love
    our neighbors as ourselves.
        I see that Jesus shows us how much he really means this
    when he intentionally makes His home among us. He seeks to draw
    nearest to the overlooked and the underheard, the outcasts in
    society. He lovingly lays hands on people who have shunned,
    heals them and spends precious time with them. Then, Jesus goes
    so far as to sacrifice himself to the point of death to
    reconcile to himself all things so that we may have new life. I
    testify that I am moved and changed by the depth of His
    compassion towards me and all of life on earth.
        I learned for the first time that our earth was out of
    balance in my environmental science class. As I listened to the
    stories of thousands of species going extinct and how weather
    patterns were being hijacked by climate change, I was shaken to
    my core and enraged. The earth is the one home we all have, and
    it is God's very first and wonderful gift to us. I can barely
    begin to imagine how much it must hurt God's heart.
        I decided to continue exploring environmental issues at
    university. It was during this time the Flint water crisis
    unfolded right next to us in Michigan. I listened in utter
    shock and dismay as my classmates shared about their families
    having no choice but to drink and bathe in water lined with
    lead for years until the mainstream media took it up.
        We organized daily water bottle drives to be sent to the
    people in Flint. And I learned that 60 percent of their
    population was made up of people of color and 40 percent were
    under the poverty line.
        In this period of my life, I began to understand more fully
    what environmental injustice looked like played out in real-
    time. I was shaken at the reality of suffering I was
    witnessing, and my heart broke for these people, my neighbors.
        Congress, today, I stand before you as climate justice
    coordinator for Sojourners, a Christian advocacy organization,
    and I serve as the co-chair for the steering committee of Young
    Evangelicals for Climate Action.
        After the Flint water crisis, I saw with new eyes that
    ecological issues are not one-off, siloed problems without
    consequence to people's lives. I continue to witness the
    upending of livelihoods that brothers and sisters are already
    facing both here in our very communities and all over the world
    as a direct result of the climate crisis.
        Just last week, historic flooding after a bomb cyclone in
    Nebraska killed three people and ravaged homes. Cyclone Idai
    killed 750 people and displaced 100,000 in South Africa.
    California wildfires last year were the deadliest, most
    destructive wildfires ever on record, and they killed 104
    people.
        I encounter these stories, and I am changed. If I do
    nothing, I am complicit. More than this, I am disobedient.
        The impacts of the climate crisis are hitting our most
    vulnerable neighbors first, the ones Jesus loved to draw close
    to. People of color, women, and people living under the poverty
    line and the young generation are already bearing the brunt of
    the climate crisis while doing the least to contribute to it.
    No wonder why young people care.
        As a Christian, I believe God calls us to a total and
    radical reimagination and transformation of our relationship
    with others and the earth. As political leaders, especially
    ones of faith, I implore you to respond faithfully and with
    full force to love God and neighbor by enacting just,
    compassionate, and transformative climate policies which rise
    to the challenge of the climate crisis.
        And we don't have a lot of time. So I invite you to dream
    beyond this deep-rooted partisanship into co-creating a world
    of wholeness together.
        And to my fellow believers in the room, we live in the era
    of the resurrected Christ. So let us practice resurrection. We
    can begin to cultivate wholeness in our communities by
    addressing the climate crisis faithfully and with full
    attention. It is a fulfillment of the commandment to love our
    neighbors as ourselves. And that is my prayer for you.
        Thank you.
        [The statement of Ms. Zhang follows:]
                                   __________

                           Testimony of Melody Zhang

        Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you, to tell my
    story about how I came to care about the climate crisis as an essential
    part of my Christian witness.
        My fascination with creation began ever since I started to speak.
    My very first words--which were in Chinese, my heart language--were WZ,
    which means, ``go outside''. When I learned to read, I had stacks upon
    stacks of wildlife binders, scrutinizing over every new animal card I
    received each week. There were seasons of my life devoted to poisonous
    frogs, another to Michigan birds, and yet another to fish. As a child,
    I was rapt with wonder and curiosity--as naturally children often are--
    with the richness and diversity of wildlife, plants, colors, and
    textures that can be found in God's creation. And when things got
    overwhelming, I retreated to my neighborhood parks which served as a
    sanctuary for me, a place I could communicate with God and be myself. I
    still do. The practice of the presence of God in creation opens up my
    imagination, my senses, and teaches me to listen. ``But ask the
    animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they
    will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the
    fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the
    hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every
    creature and the breath of all mankind,'' reads Job 12:7-10.
        The Scriptures elsewhere erupt with poetic song in mention of God's
    deep and abiding love and connection with every corner of creation.
    Psalm 19:1 says, ``The heavens proclaim the glory of God, the skies
    display his craftsmanship''. Genesis 2:15 says that ``the Lord God took
    the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and take care
    of it''. In the original Hebrew, these two words are avad and shamar,
    which mean to serve and to protect. They both appear often elsewhere in
    reference to God Himself watching over and protecting His people. How
    powerful an image this is! So to me, it is clear that God has entrusted
    this great gift of creation to us with the responsibility to steward it
    with utmost intentionality and care. The earth is the very first gift
    we are bestowed, and in fact our first commandment is to tend it and to
    take care of it.
        I love people. I can see the imago dei, the image of God, uniquely
    reflected in each person I meet. I believe that Scripture could not be
    more clear about God's command to love our neighbors as ourselves. When
    asked what the greatest commandment of all was, Jesus replies, ``Love
    the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.' The
    second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' (Mark 12:30-31). I
    read on and see that Jesus shows us how much he really means this when
    he intentionally makes his home on earth among us (John 1:14), then
    seeks to draw nearest to the overlooked and the underheard, the
    outcasts in society. He lovingly lays hands on people who have been
    shunned; He heals them and spends precious time with them. He tells
    provocative parables like that of the Good Samaritan, about a traveler
    who gives selflessly to lift up and nurture a complete stranger of the
    ``other'' race back to life. Then, Jesus goes so far as to sacrifice
    himself to the point of death to ``reconcile to himself all things,
    whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through
    his blood, shed on the cross'' (Colossians 1:15-20) so that we may have
    new life. I testify that I am moved and changed by the depth of His
    compassion towards me and all life on earth. So, I love because I am
    deeply compelled by this revolutionary, powerful love which He embodied
    and modeled for me first.
        I learned for the first time that our earth was out of balance in
    my Environmental Science class at school. As I listened to stories
    about thousands of species going extinct, entire forests being cleared,
    and how weather patterns were being hijacked by climate change, I was
    shaken to my core and enraged that we could allow--and even cause--
    these things to happen. The earth is the one home we all have, and it
    is God's very first and very wonderful gift to us. I can barely begin
    to imagine how much it must hurt God's heart.
        I attended university in Michigan and decided to continue exploring
    environmental issues. It was during this time that the Flint water
    crisis unfolded right next door to us. I listened in utter shock and
    dismay as my classmates shared about their families having no choice
    but to drink and bathe in water lined with lead for years until the
    mainstream media took it up. We organized daily water bottle drives to
    be sent to the people in Flint, launched campaigns to fundraise for a
    permanent solution to fixing the corrosive water pipes, and reported on
    their stories. I learned that 60% of Flint's population was made up of
    people of color, and 40% were under the poverty line. I had heard about
    environmental issues affecting people negatively, but in this period of
    my life I began to understand more fully what environmental injustice
    looked like played out in real time. It brought urgency to what I was
    learning in school in a way nothing else did. I was shaken at the
    reality of suffering I was witnessing and my heart broke for these
    people, my neighbors. Didn't Jesus call us to love them, to look after
    their well-being? Didn't he say, ``whatever you do for the least of
    these brothers and sisters of mine, you do for me'' (Matthew 25:40)?
        Congress, today I stand before you as Climate Justice coordinator
    at Sojourners and serve as Co-Chair for the Steering Committee of Young
    Evangelicals for Climate Action. After the Flint water crisis, I saw
    with new eyes that ecological issues are not one-off, siloed problems
    without consequence to people's lives. As I grow deeper in my journey
    of loving God and neighbor as self, I continue to witness the upending
    of livelihoods that my brothers and sisters are already facing--both
    here in our very communities and all over the world--as a direct result
    of the climate crisis. Just last week, historic flooding after a bomb
    cyclone in Nebraska killed three people and ravaged entire homes. The
    catastrophic Cyclone Idai killed 750 people and displaced 100,000 in
    Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. California wildfires last year were
    the deadliest, most destructive wildfires ever on record and they
    killed 104 people. I encounter these stories, and I cannot help but be
    changed. If I do nothing, I am complicit. More than this, I am
    disobedient. Indeed, we are seeing deadly, unprecedented extreme
    weather events almost on a weekly basis now, all of which are
    exacerbated and heightened by climate change. The impacts of the
    climate crisis are hitting our most vulnerable neighbors first, the
    very ones Jesus loved to draw close to. People of color, women, people
    living under the poverty line, and the young generation are already
    bearing the brunt of the climate crisis while doing the least to
    contribute to it. No wonder why young people care, especially young
    women of color like me. We are the first generation who will experience
    the most intense impacts of this humanitarian crisis, and our
    livelihoods are in jeopardy. Creation and people--both of which God
    deeply loves--are in peril and it breaks my heart. Romans 8:22-23 says,
    ``The whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth
    right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who
    have''.
        As a Christian, I believe God calls us to a total and radical re-
    imagination and transformation of our relationship with others and the
    earth. We yearn toward a future vision of complete reconciliation for
    all of God's created order. As political leaders, especially ones of
    faith, I implore you to respond faithfully and with full force to love
    God and neighbor by enacting just, compassionate and transformative
    climate policies which rise to the challenge of the climate crisis. And
    we don't have a lot of time. That is why it takes courage, and the
    creativity, energy, and moral leadership of young people like us.
    Congress, I invite you to dream beyond this deep-rooted history of
    partisanship into co-creating a world of wholeness together. To my
    fellow believers in the room, we live in the era of the resurrected
    Christ. So then. Let us practice resurrection. We can begin to practice
    the cultivation of wholeness in our communities by addressing the
    climate crisis faithfully and with the full attention it demands of us.
    It is a tangible fulfillment of the commandment to love our neighbors
    as ourselves. That is my prayer for you. Thank you.

        Ms. Castor. Well, thank you all very much for your
    passionate and insightful testimony.
        I recognize myself for 5 minutes for questions.
        You all have given voice to the fact that climate change is
    one of the most urgent, complex challenges humanity has ever
    faced. We must wrap our heads around it. We have to wrap our
    heads around the scale of the problem and the potential
    consequences of failing to rise to the challenge.
        As a result, some people react to the crisis with fear and
    apprehension and even despair. And those are understandable
    feelings. But in recognizing a crisis, Americans can rise to
    the occasion. We can come together to see our way to solutions.
    The witnesses we have just heard from have found resolve in the
    face of crisis and have taken action to be part of the
    solution.
        So I would like to ask each one of you, where do you find
    hope and optimism in the face of such a daunting problem?
        Mr. Suggs, will you start?
        Mr. Suggs. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Chair Castor.
        I believe that I find my most hope and my optimism in the
    faces of people in my community. I have seen how resilient and
    how responsive we have been to these natural disasters that
    affect us so extremely.
        Hearing the stories of how Hurricane Floyd in 1999, the
    year before I was born, devastated so much of my community but
    how people immediately went back and tried try to rebuild.
    People stayed in Kinston and started businesses and homes
    elsewhere in the community. They loved our community so much
    that they did not allow the catastrophic flooding from Floyd to
    overall destroy them.
        And then when Hurricane Matthew hit in 2016, I remember
    standing on a picnic table right along the banks of the Neuse
    River. And I and my organization, Kinston Teens, organized a
    prayer gathering and a volunteer rally to bring our community
    together. This was the day after the hurricane hit but in the
    days before the flooding. And I stood on top of a picnic table.
    There were around 350 people surrounding me--all walks of
    faith, all walks of life, all races, all political parties,
    everything. We came together in prayer, and we immediately
    started volunteering, preparing sandbags placed in front of
    homes and businesses and doing whatever we could to help our
    community prepare for the floods.
        And that is where I see my optimism coming from, that is
    where I get my faith from: just from how resilient my community
    has been in spite of all the challenges.
        Ms. Castor. Ms. Cooper.
        Ms. Cooper. I wholeheartedly agree with what Mr. Suggs
    said. And I think I am most hopeful when there is a vision.
        I was just reading the proverb on the wall that says,
    ``When there is no vision, the people perish.'' And in
    Louisiana, that is what we are really learning to embrace.
        I work for the Governor's Office of Coastal Activities, and
    I am so encouraged just to see the plan that we have, the work
    that we are doing, to go to these sites to see new barrier
    islands that we are building, new wetlands that we are
    building, and people who can live in their communities in south
    Louisiana because of this vision that we have.
        And I think a vision for Louisiana and a vision for our
    whole nation is so important in this way, because without that
    our people will perish and our people of Louisiana will perish
    as well.
        Ms. Castor. Mr. Piper, you expressed a bit more frustration
    in your remarks, but what do you want to see?
        Mr. Piper. I would say that the hat hasn't dropped, so to
    speak, on the climate crisis. We still have time to act. And so
    I will not feel despair, because we haven't failed yet.
        Ms. Castor. Ms. Zhang.
        Ms. Zhang. I am definitely energized by the creativity and
    the joy that young people bring to this movement. I was just at
    the climate march, the youth climate strikes, a few weeks ago,
    and there was just a palpable joy there. And people--there was
    color, and there was fun, and there was dancing, part of it.
        And I think that is why we are sustained in our movement,
    is that we know when to have fun and to not make light of the
    issue but really to be able to sustain us for the long run.
        Ms. Castor. You know, if you want to be spurred into
    action, you may want to pick up the new book, ``The
    Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming'' by David Wallace-
    Wells. I have been reading it on the airplane going back to
    Florida.
        The author points out in the book that the majority of
    carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion have occurred
    since ``Seinfeld'' premiered 30 years ago in 1989 and that we
    have 30 years to turn it around.
        But I am not sure that we have that long. The IPCC has
    concluded that we must reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050
    in order to have a chance to keep warming below the significant
    level. So for every bit of extra warming, the world will
    experience more heat waves and heavy precipitation events, sea-
    level rise, species loss.
        2050 is just 31 years from now. All of you will be about
    our age, the age of us on the dais. And I really appreciate
    everything that you have said today to help spur us on to
    action and kick off our first hearing.
        With that, I will recognize the ranking member for 5
    minutes for questions.
        Mr. Graves. Thank you, Madam Chair.
        And I want to say thanks again to all of you for being
    here, and I appreciate your testimony.
        And, Mr. Suggs, having been through numerous disasters, I
    really want to commend you for your work. One of the most
    uplifting things you can do is go to someone who is a disaster
    victim and offer them a helping hand. And it is the most
    important thing that you can do, is to just offer folks help,
    offer them assistance. Folks are often looking around trying to
    figure out where to even start.
        And so I really want to commend you, recognizing that you
    were impacted by the disaster, but rather than sitting around
    licking your wounds, you actually lifted those up. And so thank
    you very much. A huge, huge impact on communities, having been
    through many disasters myself.
        You know, I want to ask each of you a question. One of the
    challenges we have here in this committee is we have to
    recommend actions. We have to recommend what actions the
    Congress should take in changing laws and policies. And there
    are so many things. We could probably go around this room, and
    we could probably get hundreds of different recommendations.
    And so one of the things we need to do is we need to determine
    which of those actions actually make the most sense, which of
    them are going to have the biggest impact, looking at
    tradeoffs.
        Do you believe that we should apply some type of criteria
    to our decisions, looking at which recommendations we are
    making are actually going to have the biggest impact on
    temperature or sea rise, and also take into consideration
    looking at economic impacts, if, for example, one
    recommendation would have dire economic consequences? If there
    is another one that can achieve the same objective but not have
    as dire economic consequences, I mean, don't you think we
    should consider--or do you think we should consider things like
    that before we make recommendations?
        Mr. Suggs.
        Mr. Suggs. Thank you, Ranking Member Graves.
        I absolutely do believe in practicality. I believe that,
    when it comes to policy, when it comes to legislation, when it
    comes to any type of action items that are taken on behalf of,
    you know, such a large country as the United States, we do need
    to think of all the logistics. We need to make sure that we are
    not making matters worse in any capacity.
        So, considering the issues that we faced in Kinston, for
    example, I do want some ambitious action to be taken, but I
    don't want anything to happen that may disparage my community
    even more or disparage another community on the other side of
    the country. So I definitely believe in practicality.
        Mr. Graves. Thank you.
        Ms. Cooper? Quickly, do you have----
        Ms. Cooper. Yes. I agree, I think economic implications can
    be a large consequence of climate action. And so I think what
    is most important is working on both sides of the aisle in a
    nonpartisan, bipartisan manner to implement these policies that
    we are working towards in this committee and the ideas that we
    are working towards.
        Mr. Graves. Thank you.
        Mr. Piper.
        Mr. Piper. Yes. Thank you for this question.
        I am mostly in agreement that economics definitely must be
    considered, seeing----
        Mr. Graves. And let me clarify the question. I am sorry.
    Economics is one, but also just looking at the efficacy of
    these recommendations. If we are making a recommendation,
    should we evaluate, you know, sort of what impact it is going
    to actually have in terms of the environment, looking at
    temperature changes, looking at sea rise and things like that?
    So not just economic, but actually looking at and quantifying
    the types of, you know, say, benefits that these
    recommendations would yield.
        Does that make sense?
        Mr. Piper. Yeah, that makes--well, I was saying that
    economics obviously must be considered, but I think, more
    importantly, recommendations must be made following science and
    what scientists say is needed to protect the natural resources
    and to avoid dangerous effects of climate change. And I think
    that definitely must be considered when making recommendations.
        Mr. Graves. Thank you.
        Mr. Piper, I will actually ask you one other question. I
    read through all of your testimony. That was long. I want to
    make sure I understand one thing about your recommendations.
        As you know, under Paris, there were targets that were
    established under the previous administration. Do you believe
    those targets are appropriate, or do you think that--no, you
    don't?
        Mr. Piper. No, those--so the targets in Paris, the 1.5-
    degree Celsius global warming kind of cap that they have will
    actually lead to catastrophic disaster. And so we cannot hold
    those as a standard if we are to take any actual action on
    climate change.
        So, while it may seem like they are really radical or
    positive kind of caps or targets, they are not as----
        Mr. Graves. Aggressive.
        Mr. Piper [continuing]. Aggressive as they need to be.
        Mr. Graves. And so, fair to say, your perspective, that you
    wouldn't support Paris targets because you think they should be
    more aggressive than Paris?
        Mr. Piper. Yes. But I still recognize that it is a step in
    the right direction.
        Mr. Graves. Thank you.
        Ms. Zhang, I apologize, but very quickly, if you could
    respond.
        Ms. Zhang. Absolutely. I believe as Christians we are
    called to bold and compassionate action, and sometimes, you
    know, that takes courage.
        I know that solar energy already employs more than coal,
    oil, and natural gas combined. So it is definitely not either/
    or, but it can be both/and. And so it is a boost for the
    economy. And 70 percent of the American public are concerned or
    very concerned about climate change.
        Mr. Graves. Thank you.
        Thank you, Madam Chair.
        Ms. Castor. Thank you.
        Ms. Bonamici, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
        Ms. Bonamici. Thank you, Chair Castor and Ranking Member
    Graves.
        And thank you to all of our witnesses. And I also want to
    especially welcome the other students and children who are here
    at this hearing today.
        You know, I represent a district in Oregon, and in the
    Pacific Northwest, we know climate change is not a distant
    threat; it is reality. We have had smoke from wildfires. We
    have acidic oceans that are threatening the shellfish industry;
    decreased snow pack limiting access to skiing and snowboarding,
    and that is affecting our outdoor recreation industry. Droughts
    and extreme weather patterns affect our agriculture community.
    We are concerned about warmer temperatures in the Columbia
    River further endangering salmon. And rising sea levels, of
    course, on our coast threaten homeowners and small businesses.
        So the science is clear, and the consequences for continued
    inaction are serious.
        And, you know, we have talked a little bit about the
    Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, and then, of
    course, the Fourth National Climate Assessment. Some people say
    those were wake-up calls. They are more than that. They are
    alarming.
        I am glad we are starting this committee's work by
    highlighting the efforts of young leaders across the country,
    reaffirming the urgency of taking action.
        And, Mr. Piper, thank you for your leadership on the
    Juliana case to hold the federal government responsible for
    failing to act on climate change.
        I know that one of your advisors is Dr. James Hansen. And
    when we are talking about--Chair Castor mentioned something
    about 30 years. Dr. Hansen was one of the first experts to
    testify in Congress about climate change, and the year was
    1988. It could have been in this room, because this is the
    Science Committee room, and he was with NASA at the time.
        I remember 1988 well, because that is the year my son was
    born. He is now 30. So when we look at when the first testimony
    was here in the U.S. House--and 30 years have passed. And so I
    think it is a lesson for us that we must heed the call.
        And so I am inspired by your work and your advocacy
    especially, Mr. Piper, in my home State of Oregon, where, of
    course, the case is filed.
        You noted that the district court found the right to a
    climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental
    to a free and ordered society. That is from the opinion,
    district court opinion. And a stable climate system is quite
    literally the foundation of society.
        So you mention in your testimony that it should be the
    responsibility of all three branches of government, not just
    relying on the courts. So can you expand a little bit about
    that? If the case is pending in the courts, why shouldn't we
    let the courts decide? Why should we take action in Congress?
        Mr. Piper. So the courts don't make the laws--first, sorry.
    I want to thank you for the question.
        Ms. Bonamici. That is okay.
        Mr. Piper. But the courts don't make the laws. And, you
    know, they interpret the laws. But we need laws and policy to
    be made in order to move forward on this.
        And so, while in the courts what we are asking the court to
    do is recognize our rights and see the Constitution demands
    that our rights be protected and that laws need to be made,
    ultimately the laws need to be made by the legislative branch.
        Ms. Bonamici. Of course. Right. Thank you. And I certainly
    understand that and know that that is our responsibility here
    on the Select Committee. We are going to be working with
    several of the committees in making sure that we get the best
    policy.
        Mr. Suggs, you said that East Kinston is a low-income,
    predominantly black neighborhood, and the effects of natural
    disasters exacerbated by climate change are often compounded
    with limited access to food, hospitals, medical supplies.
        So it is really inspiring to hear about your work. What can
    we do at the federal level to support vulnerable communities
    like yours to help you prepare and cope with the effects of
    climate change?
        Mr. Suggs. Thank you so much, Ms. Bonamici.
        I believe that there are so many different approaches we
    can take: one definitely addressing the human impact on the
    environment, reducing emissions and things of that sort; but,
    also, doing things on a more local and really immediate level,
    implementing some flood-mitigation efforts.
        Because there are so many communities and neighborhoods
    like mine that are located in low-lying areas along the banks
    of rivers and along the Outer Banks of North Carolina that
    could use some efforts to mitigate the floods, to prevent our
    rivers and banks from overflowing. So there are so many efforts
    that could be taken when it comes to that approach as well.
        Then, also, investing in economic development and education
    to help empower the people in those communities to come up with
    solutions themselves as well. Because it is a multiple way
    approach that I believe could really make a difference in our
    community.
        Ms. Bonamici. Thank you so much.
        And I want to again thank all the witnesses who are here.
        When I think back to that year, 1988, when James Hansen,
    NASA scientist, was here testifying about climate change, let
    us not think about the future and looking back and saying they
    did nothing. Let this be the time that we take action. Let this
    be the year, let this be the Congress when we heed that call.
    Because it is about your future; it is about the future of the
    next generation and the generations to come.
        So thank you for your leadership, Chair Castor, and I yield
    back.
        Ms. Castor. Thank you very much.
        Mrs. Miller, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mrs. Miller. Thank you, Madam Chairman. And thank you all
    for being here today.
        As many of you may be aware, my home State of West Virginia
    is abundant in natural resources. Coal and natural gas from
    West Virginia help fuel the world and create good paying jobs
    for my constituents. I have seen the devastation that a top-
    down, one-size-fits-all government approach can cause.
        We saw this with the war on coal from the Obama
    administration. The decimation of the coal industry in my State
    ravished our economy, particularly in the southern part of the
    state. It created great hopelessness and ultimately led to the
    rise in our opioid crisis. My district is slowly recovering.
        The heavy hand of the federal government has consequences,
    and it can ruin communities. This is why I want to empower our
    state and local governments, as well as our communities, as we
    seek to find solutions and policies for our environment.
        Ms. Cooper, given your experience in state government, what
    are some of the policies and regulations on the federal level
    that make it difficult to start and complete restoration
    projects?
        Ms. Cooper. Thank you for the question, Mrs. Miller. I
    think on the state level with our coastal protection and
    restoration that we are doing in Louisiana, we have a whole
    agency that just is dedicated to this with state-of-the-art
    coastal scientists modeling systems and engineers that are
    working on this issue.
        But I think a problem that we face a lot is in permitting
    on the federal level and with funding. Those would be two of
    our main problems. Funding in that we don't receive all of the
    money from offshore oil that we would like to fund our
    restoration projects.
        And then on the permitting side, these processes are long
    and arduous, and they take years to get through. And when we
    are trying to restore the environment, it is challenging to
    wait this long, because you know the wetlands continue to
    degrade more and more as we wait in these permitting processes
    and as this takes longer. So if we can get that done faster,
    then we can restore even more wetlands.
        Mrs. Miller. So removing some of the red tape is what you
    are saying, in essence?
        Ms. Cooper. Yes.
        Mrs. Miller. Okay. What are some of the ways the Federal
    Government can be a better partner to help our state and local
    governments?
        Ms. Cooper. As I mentioned with the offshore revenue
    sharing, we are a part of this partnership called GOMESA
    funding from offshore revenue that happens from the Gulf Coast.
    And we are responsible for a large portion of the offshore oil
    and revenues that come to the federal government. And I think
    if we were allocated our proper amount, in that we would be
    able to fund more restoration projects that we are working on.
        Mrs. Miller. Okay. Thank you.
        And what are some best practices, in your experience, that
    the State of Louisiana has implemented to preserve the
    environment without costing jobs in the energy industry?
        Ms. Cooper. Right. So as you know, coming from West
    Virginia, our economy as well is heavily reliant on the
    industry that surrounds us. So we find it most successful to
    partner with the industries that we are working with.
        We receive a lot of our funding from state mineral
    revenues, from offshore oil, like I had mentioned, and from oil
    spill compensations. And so we find this partnership works best
    for us, because we couldn't do restoration on the scale that we
    do without receiving the funding that we do through these
    programs. So I think developing those partnerships and learning
    to work in a compromising manner is really the only way that we
    can provide long-term solutions to this problem.
        Mrs. Miller. And you are using innovation in that equation
    as well?
        Ms. Cooper. Yes, yes. Definitely.
        Mrs. Miller. All right. Thank you so much.
        Madam Chair, I yield back my time.
        Ms. Castor. Thank you.
        Mr. Huffman, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Huffman. Well, thank you, Madam Chair, for bringing
    these young leaders as our first hearing of the select
    committee to remind us that we are dealing with a crisis. If
    you believe that we have the luxury of time, if you believe
    that we have the luxury of incrementalism, I would submit that
    you are in the wrong room and probably in the wrong century.
        Just last month, I joined students at Casa Grande High
    School in Petaluma, in my district, in a climate walkout. The
    first time I have ever encouraged kids who were skipping
    school. But they were engaging in civil disobedience, or what
    our colleague Congressman John Lewis might call good trouble.
    And the reason why is very clear. There comes a time when there
    is an issue and a cause that is so important that you have to
    engage in some unconventional tactics. And the climate crisis
    is that issue.
        All over the country, all over the world, young people are
    finding their voices on climate change. And I thank the
    witnesses today for offering their voices and calling on those
    of us in office to heed that call. This level of engagement and
    activism is one of the best things that I have seen in my many
    years of beating my head against the wall on this issue. And
    trust me, I have been at it for a while.
        Just as the youth of the 1960s became the fulcrum of change
    for ending segregation for civil rights, for voting rights, I
    think the students who led this walkout, and the students who
    are here and the young people who are here today, are motivated
    by the need to address climate change and its impacts in a way
    that is very similar. It reminds me of the 1960s and the civil
    rights movement.
        You are focused on the loss of coral reefs, sea level rise
    that will endanger coastal communities worldwide, food
    shortages, and many other catastrophic impacts of climate
    change. And don't let anyone tell you that your demand to have
    a livable planet for your lifetime and for your children is
    unreasonable or extreme or radical. It is really not. It is
    essential that we hear your voice.
        For the many students in my district, this is deeply
    personal. Their communities are still recovering from wildfires
    that were the deadliest and most costly in our State's history,
    a situation that will only get worse with climate change. Last
    year, California's Fourth Climate Change Assessment found
    wildfires larger than 25,000 acres could become 50 percent more
    frequent if we fail to act.
        So you are calling for swift action to stop climate change,
    and that is the right message, and I believe you are the right
    messengers. But I know that when young people call for change,
    they are often ridiculed and dismissed as being unreasonable.
    They are urged to think incrementally. That might have been the
    right conversation a few decades ago. And it was over four
    decades ago. In 1981, just down the hall in this very building,
    one of the first congressional hearings on climate change was
    held. Ms. Bonamici referenced a 1988 hearing with Dr. James
    Hansen. Well, in 1981, a Congressman named Al Gore held a
    hearing on this subject. And don't you wish that we could go
    back in time and tell the Members of Congress in that room and
    tell the world that was tuning in to that hearing, listen to
    this man. He is right. In just a few decades, we are going to
    start losing our coral reefs. We are going to have several
    multibillion dollar extreme weather catastrophes a year in this
    country. This is a real crisis, and you don't have the luxury
    of time.
        So we can't go back in time, unfortunately, and speak to
    the Congress of 1981 or the people of 1981. As the saying goes,
    the best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago, right? But the
    next best time to plant a tree is right now. And we need to
    plant a lot of trees very quickly.
        So the good news is today you are speaking to the United
    States Congress. And some folks are tuning in, I hope, on C-
    SPAN, which Al Gore helped to create, by the way.
        So do you have a final word or sentence to this moment for
    the Members of Congress who are listening, for the folks who
    are tuned in on Al Gore's C-SPAN, that hopefully are listening
    this time and understand the urgency?
        I open it up to any of you to speak to that.
        Ms. Cooper. So I appreciate your statement and your
    question as well. I think in Louisiana, we see the detrimental
    impacts of a changing climate like none other. And anyone can
    see that, regardless of what political party you are,
    regardless of what industry you work in. Everyone can see that.
    All the communities that we are working with, all of the
    people. And even at a Federal level, you can see the coast of
    Louisiana degrading. And I think what I would emphasize to
    Congress is compromise, to put aside our partisanship----
        Mr. Huffman. Can I followup on that? Would you indulge the
    shortest of questions? I know I am beyond my time, but, Ms.
    Cooper, I am very moved by your passion for preventing the
    impacts and addressing the resiliency needs of the Louisiana
    coast, to you and Mr. Graves, who is a real champion on this.
    Please tell the folks back home that he is constantly beating
    this drum. My answer is, yes, let's do it. Let's act boldly to
    preserve your coastline and to build your coastal resiliency.
        But wouldn't you agree that at the same time as we do those
    things, if we are making the climate warmer by failing to
    address emissions, we are not really helping you? Would you
    agree with me on that?
        Ms. Cooper. I would, but I believe that it is all about
    compromise. I don't think it has to be zero percent oil and gas
    or 100 percent oil and gas. I think we need--what we need is a
    gradual transition. We need technological innovation that keeps
    pace with our transition away from oil and natural gas. I don't
    think it can happen overnight.
        In Louisiana, too much of our jobs and our livelihood and
    economy is dependent on this. And so I stand firmly behind
    that.
        Mr. Huffman. I appreciate that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
        Ms. Castor. And I would like to welcome Congresswoman Mary
    Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania for joining us today and sitting
    in. So welcome.
        Now, Mr. Armstrong, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Armstrong. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thanks to
    everyone sitting here.
        We have a big closeup group, program in North Dakota, and
    our high school kids are out here over the course of the last 3
    weeks. And my favorite thing in the entire time I am in this
    town is when I see young people becoming engaged in things,
    whether I agree with them, disagree with them, or anything. I
    think it is fantastic. I think you bring perspective that we
    oftentimes lack hearing from when we are in this town.
        And so as we go through this--I am from North Dakota. We
    have kind of--we produce the world's food, we produce the
    world's energy. So trying to figure out how you want to make
    sure that we keep these competing interests at play is
    sometimes interesting.
        So I called the smartest kid I know who I used to coach as
    a 12-year-old in baseball, and he submitted a letter which,
    when I am done, I am going to ask for unanimous consent to put
    in the record. But I know I don't always read those, so I am
    going to read--we will get you one.
        So I am just going to read the letter from my good friend,
    Tanner Hopfauf.
        Dear Congressman Armstrong, I am writing to share my input
    in response to the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
    announced hearing entitled Generation Climate: Young Leaders
    Urge Climate Action Now.
        The hearing is described as a contrast to a typical
    congressional hearing. The committee will hear from young
    leaders who are urging policy leaders to take climate action
    now and finally address climate crisis.
        I work in the oil and gas industry in North Dakota, and I
    consider myself a young leader who would be directly impacted
    by climate action being discussed in Congress. This is a
    complex issue, so I hope the committee will consider my
    perspective, which is shared by many young leaders throughout
    the country who may not be represented at the hearing today.
        I grew up in southwestern North Dakota in the rural town of
    Dickinson. I attended K-12 here and graduated from Dickinson
    High School in May of 2014.
        While in high school, I decided I wanted to pursue a degree
    in engineering. And with the increase in activity and
    opportunities presented by the oil and gas industry, I knew
    petroleum engineering was my goal. Once I learned that the
    University of North Dakota offered a bachelor's degree in
    petroleum engineering, I applied and was accepted.
        While attending UND, I was fortunate enough to have an
    internship during each of the three summers, two of which were
    in western North Dakota. Upon graduating in 2018, I accepted a
    position with an exploration and production company and have
    been there since. My career thus far in educational decisions
    would have been drastically different were it not for the oil
    and gas industry in my community.
        My story is not unique. Before the oil and gas industry
    became established, many young adults from rural North Dakota
    were forced to look for jobs and career opportunities out of
    State after graduating. Simply put, the jobs that offered long-
    term career advancement that would appeal to young adults
    entering the workforce did not exist in North Dakota. As a
    result, our rural communities were shrinking, and we are losing
    our small town culture and way of life so many had enjoyed for
    generations.
        The oil and gas industry has completely changed this
    outlook. Local citizens now have the opportunity to go to work
    and have careers in the areas they have always called home.
    This industry has provided a spark to our communities and has
    given a breath of life back to them.
        Communities that have been shrinking for many years have
    now begun to grow and prosper. People are choosing to move and
    live in rural North Dakota because of the careers that are now
    available. Additionally, local residents now have the ability
    to remain in their hometown while having successful and
    meaningful careers. The boom in the economy has provided so
    much for the individuals that are working directly in the
    industry, but it has also positively influenced the way of life
    for all citizens living in the area and even the entire State.
        Rural citizens have benefited from increased
    infrastructure, advancing education systems, and additional
    sources of entertainment. So many things that rural North
    Dakotans would have never thought possible or to be available
    in their communities now are available because of this
    industry.
        The oil and gas industry is reshaping North Dakota and the
    economy at the local and the State level. The industry has put
    North Dakota on the map and continues to provide many
    opportunities for rural North Dakotans. Without this industry,
    our economies would cease to grow, job opportunities would no
    longer be abundant, and, once again, local citizens would be
    forced to look out of State for career opportunities.
        I stand behind the oil and gas industry and will continue
    to support its involvement in the rural North Dakota
    communities. I am proud to have grown up in Western North
    Dakota. I am proud to have graduated from college in eastern
    North Dakota. And I am proud to be an active member of the
    workforce that the industry has established in North Dakota.
        The oil and gas industry in North Dakota has revolutionized
    the way we extract oil and gas from the land and has an
    incredible record of post-production reclamation. We live where
    we work and we take our environmental stewardship very
    seriously.
        And there is another paragraph, but in the interest of
    time, I would just ask for unanimous consent to enter this
    letter into the record.
        Ms. Castor. Without objection.
        [The information follows:]
                                   __________

       Letter for the Record from Tanner Hopfauf to Representative Kelly
                                   Armstrong

        Dear Congressman Armstrong,
        I am writing so share my input in response to the Select Committee
    on the Climate Crisis' announced hearing, entitled ``Generation
    Climate: Young Leaders Urge Climate Action Now.'' The hearing is
    described as ``in contrast to a typical Congressional hearing, the
    committee will hear from young leaders who are urging policymakers to
    take climate action now and finally address the climate crisis.'' I
    work in the oil and gas industry in North Dakota and I consider myself
    a young leader who would be directly impacted by the ``climate action''
    being discussed in Congress right now. This is a complex issue so I
    hope the Committee will consider my perspective, which is shared by
    many young leaders throughout the country who may not be represented at
    this hearing today.
        My name is Tanner Hopfauf, I grew up in southwestern North Dakota
    in the rural town of Dickinson. I attended K-12 here and graduated from
    Dickinson High School in May of 2014. While in high school, I decided I
    wanted to pursue a degree in engineering and with the increase in
    activity and opportunities presented by the oil and gas industry I knew
    petroleum engineering was my goal. Once I learned the University of
    North Dakota (UND) offered a bachelor's degree in Petroleum
    Engineering, I applied and was accepted. While attending UND, I was
    fortunate enough to have an internship during each of the three
    summers, two of which were in western ND. Upon graduating in May of
    2018, I accepted a full-time position with an exploration and
    production company and have been there since. My career thus far and
    educational decisions would have been drastically different were it not
    for the oil and gas industry in my community.
        My story is not unique. Before the oil and gas industry really
    became established, many young adults from rural North Dakota were
    forced to look for jobs and long term career opportunities out of state
    after graduating high school and college. Simply put, the jobs that
    offered long term career advancement that would appeal to young adults
    entering the workforce didn't exist in ND. As a result, our rural
    communities were shrinking and we were losing our small town culture
    and a way of life so many had enjoyed for generations before. The oil
    and gas industry has completely changed this outlook, local citizens
    now have the opportunity to go to work and have fulltime careers in the
    area they have always called home. This industry has provided a spark
    to our rural communities and has given a breath of life back into them.
    Communities that had been shrinking for many years before have begun to
    grow and prosper. People are choosing to move to and live in rural ND
    because of the jobs that are now available. Additionally, local
    residents now have the ability to remain in their home town communities
    while having successful and meaningful careers. The boom in the economy
    has provided so much for the individuals that are working directly in
    the industry, but it has also positively influenced the way of life for
    all citizens living in the area and even the entire state. Rural
    citizens have benefited from increased infrastructure, advancing
    education systems, and additional sources of entertainment; so many
    things that rural North Dakotans would have never thought possible or
    to be available in their communities now are because of the oil and gas
    industry.
        The oil and gas industry is reshaping North Dakota and the economy
    at the local and state level. This industry has put North Dakota on the
    map, and continues to provide many opportunities for rural North
    Dakotans. Without this industry our economies would cease to grow, job
    opportunities would no longer be abundant, and once again local
    citizens would be forced to look out of state for career opportunities.
    I stand behind the oil and gas industry and will continue to support
    its involvement in rural North Dakota communities. I am proud to have
    grown up in Western North Dakota, I am proud to have graduated from
    college in Eastern North Dakota, and I am proud to be an active member
    of the workforce the oil and gas industry has established in North
    Dakota communities.
        The oil and gas industry in North Dakota has revolutionized the way
    we extract oil and gas from the land and has an incredible record of
    post-production reclamation. We live where we work so we take
    environmental stewardship very seriously. As this committee moves
    forward, I hope they will acknowledge the excellent stewardship of our
    resources that is happening in North Dakota right now, and all the
    economic opportunities and prosperity it has created for our residents.
    Ours is a young, vibrant industry that I hope can gain more respect and
    understanding rather than be used as a scape goat to win political
    points. I am a young leader and I want my voice to be heard. Climate
    change and the policies being discussed pose a direct threat to my
    industry, and I don't want to be collateral damage in this political
    debate.
        Thank you for your work on this committee and for representing my
    voice and the voices of so many others working and thriving in western
    North Dakota.
                Sincerely,
                                                Tanner Hopfauf.

        Mr. Armstrong. Thank you.
        Ms. Castor. Thank you, Mr. Armstrong.
        Mr. Casten, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Casten. Thank you, Madam Chair, for putting this
    hearing together.
        And thank you to all our witnesses. You know, we always
    start off these things by thanking witnesses. And there is sort
    of a pro forma to that, and somehow it seems insufficient for
    you guys today. You deserve more than just thanks.
        You know, as a lot of people have said up here, over the
    last four decades, we have had a bipartisan consensus to do
    nothing. And that is shameful. That is bipartisan agreement,
    but it is an agreement for inaction, at least on the scale that
    is required.
        Now, some of that action may be driven by corruption, some
    is driven by denial, some is driven by cowardice. But I think
    in all cases, there are far too many in this town who are
    content to sit and wait for public opinion to force them to
    act. And acting in response to polls may make you an effective
    politician, but it is the opposite of leadership.
        What you all have done in getting to this point is
    leadership. You are shaping public opinion. You are forcing
    people to mobilize for the greater good, even if that is
    contrary to their own individual interests. And that is worth
    more than just a pro forma thing. So thank you. Thank you for
    being here and for driving that conversation. What you have
    done is leadership distilled, and what we have done so far is
    shameful.
        Now, as Mr. Piper noted, this is a first step. It is a
    small first step. But all of us on both sides of this dais is--
    you know, as Robert Frost said, ``We have promises to keep and
    miles to go before we sleep.''
        So let's hold us accountable to those promises, let's hold
    you accountable to those promises, and start thinking about
    what the next steps are. As we all think about those, I want to
    start just with a little bit of advice for you all.
        I have spent my entire career trying to do something about
    climate change. First as a scientist, then as an engineer, then
    as an entrepreneur. I built a couple companies. Everything I
    ever did was built on profitably reducing greenhouse gas
    emissions.
        I used to think that dealing with climate change was a
    technology problem. Laws of thermodynamics were somehow holding
    us back. Then I thought it was an economic problem, that the
    laws of economics were somehow holding us back. And I am in
    this job now because I have come to the conclusion that it is
    the laws of the United States that are holding us back.
        Now, the good news is that is the only one of those laws
    that can be changed. So that is a cause for some optimism. But
    it took me about 20 years to come to that realization. And if
    you will humor me with some advice, it is only to hope that you
    can be smarter than I have been.
        My first piece of advice for you is do not waste your
    energy preaching to the converted. It is good for your ego. It
    will make you feel good. It is not necessary. Number two, do
    not waste your energy celebrating those who agree that climate
    change is real. They deserve no more praise than people who
    will acknowledge that their tin foil hat does not prevent the
    aliens from reading their thoughts.
        So what do you do? Lead not by persuading people who
    already are there, lead not by telling people they are immoral,
    but lead by getting people to understand that their self
    interests are aligned with your larger purpose.
        People who are motivated solely by economics like the not
    pay for fuel. People who are motivated solely by national
    security like the idea that we could have a military that
    doesn't depend on sending money to people we don't feel very
    good about. People who are motivated--they feel macho by
    getting behind the wheel of a really fast muscle car, love the
    acceleration of an electric vehicle. Meet people where they are
    and get them to go.
        And so my question for you all who have done a better job
    of leadership than we have is to maybe share in the few minutes
    we have left how you have persuaded people who disagree with
    you to act for the greater good and what we can learn from your
    experience.
        Mr. Suggs.
        Mr. Suggs. I will start. Thank you, Mr. Casten. I will
    share that I believe sharing stories is one way to really build
    bridges. And when I have opportunities to share the stories
    that are from my community and how people's lives have been
    just totally changed by these catastrophic events, I believe
    that is the way to build rapport among each other, and we see
    where we are coming from.
        And when I can hear the stories of--like the gentleman from
    North Dakota just shared about the young man who works in the
    oil and gas industry, and when we can hear those stories and
    we--I believe that is the path that we use to find compromise,
    so--but when we can share stories, I believe that is the way to
    really persuade people to hear the other perspective.
        Ms. Cooper. I appreciate your advice, Congressman Casten.
    And I find that it is important in this instance to have shared
    experiences. In Louisiana, I get to see this on a personal
    level, which I am very privileged by. But to see individuals
    and communities, as I had briefly noted before, that are losing
    their cultures, that are losing their environments every day
    already to these climate crises. And we can all see the impacts
    of intense weather events in our communities. And if not in our
    communities, then we can see this on national television. It is
    everywhere. We have disasters happening all the time. And I
    think relating to one another in that shared experience manner
    is the best way to move forward, because you can't deny that
    those things are happening.
        Mr. Casten. I think out of respect to my colleagues, I
    think we are out the time. But I appreciate your responses. And
    sorry to not leave time for all of you.
        Ms. Bonamici. [Presiding.] Thank you.
        And I want to explain. Chair Castor and Representative
    Lujan had to run to another committee where they are having
    votes on amendments and bills, so they will return.
        And at present, I would like to recognize Representative
    Levin for 5 minutes for your questions.
        Mr. Levin. Well, thank you so much. So grateful for,
    finally, the first hearing of this select committee. Grateful
    to serve and really grateful to all of you. I think my friend
    Mr. Casten said it well; you give us hope, and we are grateful
    that you are here.
        I think the work of this committee is significantly
    overdue. This is a scientific, health, political, economic,
    national security, environmental, and moral issue. My
    constituents in Southern California feel the impact of climate
    change every day in many different ways. Increased coastal
    erosion that has caused infrastructure to collapse, sea level
    rise, longer and more extreme droughts, and unprecedented
    wildfires.
        These examples are underpinned by clear and compelling
    evidence, including from institutions in my district, like the
    Scripps Institute of Oceanography. And they reinforce the
    stories that we have heard from you, both in your written
    testimony and here this morning.
        I have no doubt that what we continue to highlight here
    will just add to the overwhelming evidence that we better
    transition away to a more sustainable future, but we better do
    so in an economically productive way. And what I mean by that,
    like Mr. Casten, I had been in the clean energy industry for
    about 15 years, and it is an incredible economic opportunity,
    and we cannot lose sight of that. And it should be shared by
    all regions of this country, especially those that have been
    dependent on fossil fuels.
        As far as the heavy hand of the federal government, I would
    like to remind my colleagues of the tens of billions of dollars
    that we subsidize fossil fuels with each year. The real
    question, in my mind, is whether Americans will be using clean
    energy technologies that are developed here, that are
    researched, developed, deployed here, with American jobs and
    American ingenuity, or whether we are going to be using
    technologies that are developed and deployed first in Asia and
    Europe, and whether we are going to lead or whether we are
    going to cede our global leadership.
        So I commend you all for your leadership. It was a similar
    belief in the need to act on climate that prompted my own
    campaign for Congress after working as an environmental
    activist and lawyer for about 15 years, as I mentioned. And I
    actually began my campaign by sending my opponent a copy of the
    book, ``Climate Change for Beginners,'' which is written at
    about a third grade reading level. Everybody here should check
    it out. If you have a family member that doesn't believe in
    basic science, hand it to them.
        But the reality is that our President also denies the
    scientific consensus on climate. When he visited my home State
    of California last year in the wake of our devastating
    wildfires, he suggested we rake our forests, that would solve
    the problem.
        So, Mr. Piper, I wanted to turn to you. How would you
    respond to this current administration's omissions and outright
    denial of science?
        Mr. Piper. Thank you for the question. And I sued them.
        Mr. Levin. Well, that is--care to opine on that, sir?
        Mr. Graves. I would like to clarify for the record, you
    actually sued the Obama administration.
        Mr. Piper. That is true. That is true.
        Mr. Levin. Please do clarify for the record, Mr. Piper.
        Don't worry about that. They are voting down the way.
        Mr. Piper. Okay. Yeah. Sorry.
        On a less humorous note, on a more serious note, I think it
    is hard to honestly hold a response to such strong illogical
    climate denial, because there is not much you can say.
    Something as ridiculous as telling somebody to rake a forest in
    order to reduce the effects of a wildfire season that is out of
    our control, it blows my mind.
        But I guess in, like, honestly, when I think about how I
    respond to that, it would have to be that I place my faith in
    the proceedings of the court, in the hope that the court can
    disregard the disbelief, recognize the science and the
    constitutional obligation and the constitutional rights of the
    youth, not only my, you know co-witnesses here, but also all
    the youth across America to a livable climate and a stable
    future.
        Mr. Levin. And I was very interested, Mr. Piper, to see
    that your case highlights some of the federal subsidies for
    fossil fuels. Can you briefly expand on the role that these
    fossil fuel subsidies play in your case?
        Mr. Piper. You know, at the moment, like, right now, I
    don't have that off the top of my head, but I am actually happy
    to get back to you with that.
        Mr. Levin. That would be great.
        Finally, and if I could just run just a second or two
    longer.
        Mr. Suggs, can you talk about how the repeated flooding has
    affected Kinston's economy, small businesses, the workers who
    rely on wages from those businesses?
        Mr. Suggs. Thank you, Congressman Levin. I will say I
    mentioned it earlier in my testimony how U.S. Highway 70 runs
    right through town. It is our main business corridor. It also
    runs almost parallel with the Neuse River. So many of our
    businesses are located along that highway. If you want to get
    from our State capital to Raleigh to North Carolina's beautiful
    beaches, you have to go down Highway 70 in Kinston.
        And when hurricanes and floods hit, that entire highway is
    flooded. So millions of businesses along that highway, and
    grocery stores, restaurants, clothing stores, are under water
    and submerged. People are out of work for weeks or months while
    these businesses have to rebuild.
        Kinston in east North Carolina is also big on agriculture.
    And you have farms and migrant farmworkers and their families
    and the farmers' families who are out of work for months while
    their farmland is under water.
        So I mean, it definitely is a huge--takes a huge toll on
    our economy. People sometimes leave our community because of
    the constant flooding. So that also affects population loss,
    and that has a trickle-down effect on the economy. So there are
    so many ways that----
        Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Suggs.
        To the extent that we consider the economic impacts of
    climate change, let's be fair and evenhanded about those
    impacts.
        And I yield back. Thank you.
        Ms. Castor [presiding]. Let's see. Ms. Brownley, you are
    recognized for 5 minutes.
        Ms. Brownley. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. And thank you
    for having this hearing, our first major hearing today. I can
    think of no better group of witnesses to kick off this
    committee than the young leaders sitting before us today. You
    represent, as many of us have already expressed, but you
    represent the generation that will bear the full brunt of the
    failures of our generation and previous generations to prevent
    this crisis if we do not act.
        I must say I am heartened that even and despite of the
    federal government's inaction, that all of you have expressed
    hope and still believe that the government can, in a
    nonpolitical way, truly and boldly address this climate crisis.
    So there is no question that the time to act is now.
        And I am proud to represent a district in California. And I
    believe this committee has a historic opportunity to learn from
    California's example and many other solutions that we can find
    nationwide and, quite frankly, worldwide.
        There are so many questions that I would like to ask all of
    you, but I know my time is limited. But, Mr. Piper, I am just
    so extraordinarily impressed. As you said, you sued the
    government, and I am very impressed that you were able to pull
    that together. And I understand that in your lawsuit, there
    were 21 plaintiffs that were 21 years or younger. I can't
    imagine your joy and your feeling of success when the judge
    held that--your argument that you have a due process right to a
    climate system capable of sustaining human life. It must have
    been an extraordinary moment. And the disappointment still
    continues that the case has not been fully resolved.
        But you talk about this issue. We talk a lot about the
    climate crisis with regards to its economic impact, to its
    health impact, to its national security impact. But you are
    really describing this, quite frankly, as a civil rights--
    fundamentally, a civil rights issue.
        And so I wanted to ask you first if you were intentional in
    terms of having 21 plaintiffs that were 21 years or younger.
    And, if so, why? But I also wanted to ask you, if you could,
    talk a little bit more about your belief and why the climate
    crisis is so much a civil rights issue to our time.
        Mr. Piper. Thank you, Ms. Brownley, for this question. In
    regards to the ages and number of the plaintiffs, I believe it
    is just coincidence of fate, not necessarily something that is
    specific and intentional.
        And then with it being--oh, my. I honestly forgot the
    second part of your question. Could you please.
        Ms. Brownley. You have talked about the climate crisis
    being a civil rights issue. And, you know, if you could just
    talk a little bit more about that. I would like to hear the
    other panelists sort of weigh in on what their feelings are
    that this climate crisis is indeed a civil rights issue of our
    time.
        Mr. Piper. Yeah. So I think it is the--so the easiest way
    to say this is the Public Trust Doctrine, which is, in common
    law, states that the government holds a responsibility to
    protect the natural resources of the air, land, and the water
    for posterity. And when we recognize that no life on this
    planet can be held without those three natural resources,
    without having clean air, clean water, and land that is capable
    of sustaining life and growing life.
        And then specifically in regards to our Constitution, I
    believe it is the Fifth Amendment that says that the federal
    government cannot deprive its citizens of the right to life,
    liberty, and the pursuit of happiness or property without due
    process of law. And in that way, we have to recognize that the
    federal government's destruction of the environment through its
    conscious building of a fossil fuel infrastructure is a
    violation of the Constitution.
        Ms. Brownley. Thank you. Five minutes goes by quickly.
    Thank you very much, and I yield back.
        Ms. Castor. Votes have been called on the floor, but we are
    going to try to--oh, excuse me. We are in recess. Okay. Good.
        I was going to counsel everyone to be concise. But now I
    think we are okay.
        So, Mr. Palmer, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Palmer. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
        Ms. Cooper, you talked about some of the issues involving
    Louisiana. And I know the focus is entirely on human activity
    and what the government ought to do in regard to human
    activity. Louisiana has been involved in some major floods, one
    a couple of years ago that caused tremendous damage. And there
    is a lot of discussion about what the federal government's
    responsibility is in that.
        Isn't it true that the Army Corps of Engineers had a study
    that lasted 20-something years, maybe 30 years, looking at
    building a diversion canal from the Comite River over to the
    Lilly basin that would largely have mitigated any problems from
    that flood or at least made the problem much more minimal than
    they were?
        Are you aware of that? Can you talk about it a little bit?
        Ms. Cooper. Yes. Thank you for the question, Mr. Palmer. I
    am not familiar specifically with that project. I can get back
    with you on the information needed afterwards.
        But I can speak to how our restoration projects and the
    projects that we are doing are all aimed at reducing flood risk
    for our communities. And I am sure, as you might have seen, we
    have flood maps for our entire coast. And we are trying to
    figure out where the biggest flood risks are now and in the
    next 50 years. We set up like a low and a high scenario of what
    could be the lowest expectations and the highest. And so we are
    trying to plan our projects around that information. And so we
    are putting projects in areas that need it the most and making
    our investments worth the most.
        But in regard to that specific project, I would be glad to
    get back with you on that.
        Mr. Palmer. Well, you don't need to, because I know a good
    bit about it. I wanted to know what you know about it.
        And the issue here is, is that I know the climate is
    changing. Climate has a history. It has always been changing.
    And there are some serious consequences from climate change
    that we need to be prepared for.
        I worked for two international engineering companies. I
    worked in environmental systems. I ran a think tank for 25
    years. And there is a fundamental principle in addressing
    issues, and that is you first have to properly define the
    problem. If you don't properly define the problem, then the
    solutions you come up with generally are going to be off the
    mark. And there are very serious consequences when dealing with
    climate change if we don't properly define the problem. If you
    put all the emphasis on anthropomorphic impact and you don't
    take into account natural variation and other issues, then we
    are going to suffer.
        For instance, there is an ice shelf in the Antarctic. Are
    you all familiar with the ice shelf, that there is some
    concerns about it? I see Mr. Piper is nodding his head.
        The last time that ice shelf broke off was 125,000 years
    ago. Okay? Any idea why it broke off?
        Some folks think it was climate change. And there is a high
    probability that that was part of it, because we have gone
    through cooling periods and warming periods. But it is also
    highly probable that it is basic physics. Because an ice shelf
    is not an iceberg. It is not displacing its mass in water. It
    is not an ice sheet on land. It extends out over the surface of
    the water. In this particular case, it is probably 5 or 6 feet
    above the water.
        And at some point, just basic physics are going to come
    into play where the weight on the end will cause it to break
    off, and it will--if it doesn't freeze back in place, whatever
    it does, once it hits the water, it is going to cause sea
    levels to rise.
        If we don't take into account the natural variations and
    that climate is changing and take action to mitigate for those
    probabilities, as they failed to do Louisiana with the Comite
    River Canal, then you are going to have some serious problems.
    If we had built that canal 30 years ago, and Mr. Graves and I
    have talked about this quite a bit, I think you wouldn't have
    had the billions and billions of dollars in damage. You
    probably wouldn't have had the loss of life and the destruction
    that you had.
        So my encouragement is for you to stay involved, but look
    at the total picture. Don't focus on just one thing.
        And with that, Madam Chairman, I will yield back.
        Ms. Castor. Thank you, Mr. Palmer.
        Mr. Lujan, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Lujan. Well, good morning, everyone. And, again, thank
    you to all of our witnesses today for your testimony, for the
    courage to be here today and what you are doing with your lives
    to make a positive difference, not just in our communities, but
    really having a positive impact around the world. Each of you
    has made the case that it is past time for Congress to act to
    protect the health and safety of our young people and our
    Earth. And I applaud your efforts. We agree with you, most of
    us agree with you.
        I am going to start off my remarks today by sharing a
    little data and a little bit about my age.
        In 1990, I was 18 years old. In the 29 years since, we have
    seen the impacts of climate change. To begin in the nearly
    three decades since I was the age of some of our guests here
    today, nearly half the industrial emissions that have ever been
    emitted into the atmosphere for the entirety of human history
    have been released. It has had a dramatic impact on our world.
        The polar caps then were 40 percent larger. Our seas were
    about 3 inches lower. Our entire planet has warmed, and we have
    seen a new wave of biological extinctions. Famine, natural
    disasters, negative human health. That is how I define the
    problem.
        I would say that this requires immediate action. Our
    changing planet affects our health, our food, our ecosystems,
    and our way of life, and we cannot wait for another generation
    to act.
        Ms. Zhang, I appreciate how your testimony ties
    environmental issues with issues of injustice. In Pope Francis'
    encyclical Laudato Si, he stressed the importance of protecting
    our most vulnerable from the impacts of climate change. He
    says, I quote, ``We are faced not with two separate crises, one
    environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex
    crisis which is both social and environmental.''
        The Pope goes on to recognize that we have a moral
    obligation to act on climate change for future generations and
    to protect the poor, marginalized, and those most at risk.
        So my question for you is, can you speak to why the
    religious community believes we need to reduce emissions,
    reduce pollution, and address climate change?
        Ms. Zhang. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Mr. Lujan, for
    your question. I believe that--the Bible says a good man leaves
    an inheritance for his children and his children's children.
    And I think this inheritance in terms of both abundance of
    natural and fiscal resources, I think that I--I believe that
    God is speaking word through our generation. And I think that
    the religious community cares a lot about this because it is
    directly tied to our love of God and neighbor. And we see that
    this is a humanitarian crisis that is not something
    hypothetical and is happening in the future but is already
    impacting people, people who Jesus called us to draw closest
    to, and he himself modeled that for us.
        And so that is some of the work that my organization, Young
    Evangelicals for Climate Action, and Sojourners, a Christian
    advocacy organization, focus on transformation through a
    biblical call to social justice. That is the work that we do.
        And, you know, we are called to steward the very first gift
    that we are given by God. And this is something that God cares
    a lot about. And if we take the time to know the creatures on
    Earth and to spend time in it, I think that that is--in the
    knowing, really, is where loving begins. And I think we are so
    disconnected as a society now to that original calling that it
    really--it starts from a practice of stewardship and a practice
    of a personal experience with Earth. And so that is what we
    hope to do.
        And I am in the room with Interfaith Power and Light, and
    there are numerous interreligious organizations that are
    working for this. So thank you.
        Mr. Lujan. And based on some of the earlier line of
    questioning, I have a simple question to each of you, which is
    really yes or no. Do you think that we should be doing
    everything we can to reduce pollution?
        Mr. Suggs.
        Mr. Suggs. Yes, sir.
        Mr. Lujan. Ms. Cooper?
        Ms. Cooper. Yes. I agree.
        Mr. Lujan. Mr. Piper?
        Mr. Piper. Definitely.
        Mr. Lujan. Ms. Zhang?
        Ms. Zhang. Absolutely.
        Mr. Lujan. And I hope that we don't lose sight of our
    responsibilities here as we look to find common ground to get
    this done. But we need to act. And I think that Mr. Huffman has
    highlighted the cost of inaction. And I hope that you all take
    to heart the importance of highlighting what happens if we
    don't do anything. This Congress needs to act.
        And I know the call for bipartisanship, you are not saying
    sit idly by and wait another 10 years to do something. I think,
    Ms. Cooper, you would even say, it is time to act, come
    together, find some common ground, and get to work. Would that
    be correct?
        Ms. Cooper. That is absolutely correct.
        Mr. Lujan. I appreciate that.
        I have to run down to a vote, and I will see you all a
    little bit later. Thanks for being here.
        Ms. Bonamici [presiding]. Thank you, Mr. Lujan.
        I now recognize Mr. Neguse for 5 minutes for your
    questions.
        Mr. Neguse. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. And I also want to
    thank Chairwoman Castor who I know had to step out, but for her
    leadership and, in particular, for setting the agenda of this
    committee to have the young folks that have joined us today be
    our very first witnesses with respect to our first substantive
    meeting. I certainly appreciate her leadership.
        And I want to thank each and every one of you, as my
    colleague Mr. Casten mentioned, not in a pro forma way. I mean,
    I know that you all have traveled a great expense to
    Washington, D.C., to come visit with us today. And just know
    that your testimony is incredibly powerful, and it certainly is
    inspiring to us and to the country.
        Climate change is the existential threat of our time that
    we must begin addressing immediately. And it shouldn't be a
    partisan issue. As Congress discusses the threat of climate
    change, we cannot lose sight of what is truly at stake. The
    conversations we have now, the decisions that we make today
    will decide the quality of life for the witnesses that are
    gathered here today in front of this committee. We must choose
    to protect their access to clean air, clean water, and a stable
    climate. And this is not an abstract issue as has clearly been
    demonstrated today during the hearing. Climate change is
    staring us right in the face.
        In my home State of Colorado, I represent Colorado's Second
    Congressional District--Boulder, Fort Collins, northern
    Colorado. Over 50 percent of the district I represent consists
    of public lands. And so my constituents are already beginning
    to experience firsthand the impacts of this crisis. Increased
    flooding, erosion, rising temperatures, and faster snowmelt all
    have real-life consequences to my constituents.
        But addressing these impacts starts with an acceptance of
    science. And with great respect to my colleague on the other
    side of the aisle, with respect to his comment regarding
    defining the problem, I don't know that this committee needs to
    necessarily define the problem. The scientists, the experts
    have defined the problem for us. The IPCC determined that we
    have 12 years to ensure that the increase in global temperature
    remains below the threshold required to avoid the most severe
    impacts of climate change.
        Let me just give you a sense of some of the key findings in
    the IPCC report, that carbon dioxide is at an unprecedented
    level not seen for at least the last 800,000 years; that sea
    level is set to continue to rise at a faster rate than over the
    past 40 years. And that, yes, over the last two decades, the
    Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have been melting, and
    glaciers have receded in most parts of the world.
        That is the science. And there are a variety of important
    recommendations from the top minds in the country on this
    issue. And despite the clear and unified voice from the
    scientific community on this issue, the administration has
    continued to propose drastic cuts to climate research funding
    and to make remarks that are blatantly false. Just this week,
    the President claimed that the noise of wind turbines causes
    cancer. And while, you know, that may be funny to some, these
    kind of claims are dangerous. When we ignore facts, when we
    ignore science, we ignore the duty that we have to future
    generations.
        And the good news is that this generation is paying
    attention. Almost every meeting I have had with young people
    since taking office 3 months ago has been about the
    environment. Last month, like my colleague, Representative
    Huffman, I joined young people in my State, in Boulder, in the
    youth climate strike, including folks from the Climate Reality
    Campus Corps at CU Boulder, Defend our Future, many other
    groups. And it was incredibly encouraging to see so many young
    people demanding action.
        And on that note, I would be remiss if I didn't also
    recognize that, as one of the original cosponsors on the Green
    New Deal, there is a group of young people that really have
    inspired the country, and certainly have inspired many of my
    colleagues, the Sunrise Movement, that have pushed for
    significant action to move the needle against climate change by
    pushing for the Green New Deal.
        At the end of the day, like many of my colleagues here, I
    am a parent. My wife and I have a 7-month-old daughter,
    Natalie. And as we think about the future that she is going to
    inherit--you know, so much of the work we do here in Congress I
    see through the prism of being a young father and making sure
    that she inherits a world that is perhaps better than the one
    that I inherited. And the good news again is that when my
    daughter is my age, you all will be the leaders running for
    office, serving in Congress, sitting in these chairs, making
    these decisions. And I have no doubt that, given that reality,
    we will truly make progress on this important issue.
        So, with that, I will ask a question of Ms. Zhang similar
    to the question Assistant Speaker Lujan mentioned.
        I was struck by your testimony, your written testimony,
    accounting your work helping out folks in the Flint water
    crisis in Michigan. And I am wondering if you could share with
    the committee how that experience changed the way you thought
    about the moral implications of how environmental justice
    issues impact communities and, in particular, communities of
    color.
        Ms. Zhang. Thank you for your question. I think that before
    the Flint water crisis happened, when I was in university, I
    was studying environmental issues, but studying them from an
    ecological perspective and caring about creation. But I did not
    realize that climate change was already impacting what Jesus
    calls the least of these, people who are being impacted. And
    not only in the Flint water crisis, but there is a zip code in
    my district, 48217, in Detroit, where people are living within
    10 miles of toxic pollution plants, and they are--60 percent of
    them are people of color, and most of them are in poverty.
        And I think of the, you know, recent EPA rollback of the
    MATS rule. And I think that 100 percent of their livelihoods
    are in danger because of this. And this happens often all over
    the country. And this is a deep issue of environmental justice
    very much so. And we care both about creation and about people,
    and this climate change issue affects both drastically.
        So thank you.
        Mr. Neguse. Thank you. Madam Chair, I yield back.
        Ms. Castor [presiding]. Thank you.
        Mr. Carter, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Carter. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the
    opportunity to be recognized. And if I may, could I yield time
    to my colleague, Mr. Palmer?
        Ms. Castor. The gentleman is recognized.
        Mr. Palmer. I thank the gentleman.
        I want to ask unanimous consent to enter a couple of things
    into the record. One is the IPCC's climate change Physical
    Science Basis. And just want to point out that what they found
    in this report, there is no robust trends in annual numbers,
    tropical storms, hurricanes, major hurricanes accounts that
    have been identified over the last 100 years in the North
    Atlantic basin. A couple other points that I think will be
    relevant to some of the comments from my colleagues.
        And the other is from the Climate Science Special Report
    from the Fourth National Climate Assessment that says that the
    IPCC AR5, the annual report, fifth annual report, did not
    attribute changes in flooding to anthropomorphic influence, nor
    report the technical changes in flooding, magnitude, duration,
    or frequency. And would like unanimous consent to enter that
    into the record.
        And, with that, I yield back to the gentleman from Georgia.
        Mr. Huffman. And, Madam Chair, just for clarification, we
    are entering the entire reports into the record, right, not
    select schedules that may tell partial stories?
        Mr. Palmer. I am entering the pages from the annual report.
    If the gentleman would like to read the entire report.
        Mr. Huffman. I would just suggest we enter the whole
    report. I mean, I certainly wouldn't want any misleading
    partial sections. I wouldn't want Bob Barr redacting it. I
    would like to see the whole report.
        Mr. Palmer. Well, you certainly have the--you can object to
    unanimous consent, if you want to, or you can enter the entire
    report on your behalf, but I am entering those.
        Mr. Huffman. Either way. I will defer to my colleague,
    whichever way he wants to go. If he would like to enter the
    partial sections of the report, I would propose we additionally
    enter the entire report.
        Ms. Castor. So, without objection, we will accept Mr.
    Palmer's unanimous consent request and recognize--we will go
    ahead to Mr. Carter and then come back to Mr. Huffman.
        [The information follows:]

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Mr. Carter. Okay. Well, thank you.
        And reclaiming my time. First of all, let me thank all of
    you for being here. And I mean that sincerely. We appreciate
    your interest in this. This is encouraging to have all of you
    here and testifying on such an important subject. It is
    important. Climate change is real. Our climate has been
    changing since day one. And protecting our environment is real.
    We understand that. And that is what we want to do here.
        I am going to start with you, Ms. Cooper, and ask you, for
    a number of reasons, not the least of which is because I have a
    grandchild that lives right near Tulane, and I notice that is
    where you went to school. So obviously, very important to me. I
    just wanted to ask you: You are a recent college graduate, from
    what I understand?
        Ms. Cooper. Yes, sir, I am.
        Mr. Carter. And you graduated from Tulane?
        Ms. Cooper. Yes.
        Mr. Carter. I am just interested in knowing what spurred
    your interest in climate change? Was it your studies at the
    university or was it the impact that, perhaps, the climate has
    had in Louisiana? Or just what exactly was the impetus there?
        Ms. Cooper. So I have always been very interested in the
    outdoors. I grew up with two brothers, and our lives were
    digging holes and mud fights. And that kind of was my
    background. And then when Hurricane Katrina hit, I wasn't
    entirely sure of what the implications were, because I was at
    such a young age in just fourth or fifth grade. But just seeing
    how that affected my community and members around me I think
    has had a lasting impression on me far beyond that time when I
    was that age.
        And so when I went to Tulane University, I got invested in
    the Tulane Green Club and I got invested in the local
    nonprofit. And that really opened my eyes to the issues that we
    were facing in just that one city. And I knew that if New
    Orleans was having such strong implications of climate change,
    how much more our coast and then how much more our Nation and
    world aside from that.
        Mr. Carter. Well, certainly, New Orleans is an interesting
    situation. Thirty percent of all the wetlands combined with the
    offshore production, energy production that they have. So I
    think it is an interesting example, if you will, of what is
    happening out there and what we could be doing and what we are
    doing right, what we could do better.
        I just wanted to ask you about some of the work the
    governor's office has done to partner with the private sector
    and the energy companies to help improve our climate. Are you
    aware of anything like that?
        Ms. Cooper. So a lot of our partnership, as I mentioned
    before, a lot of our revenue comes from the offshore as well as
    onshore drilling endeavors in Louisiana. And I see this as a
    perfect partnership, because we cannot do the restoration at
    the scale we do without this.
        We have completed 111 projects already. We have 76 more on
    the way on our coast. And this could not be possible without
    utilizing the resources that are already there and knowing the
    impact that it is having on our area.
        Mr. Carter. Right. Okay. Well, thank you, Ms. Cooper.
        And thank all of you again for being here and for your
    input and for your participation. It is so encouraging to see
    youth participating in the process. And I want you to know how
    much we appreciate this.
        And thank you, Madam Chair. And I yield back.
        Ms. Castor. Thank you. I would like to recognize Mr.
    Huffman for----
        Mr. Huffman. Thanks, Madam Chair.
        I would just like to request unanimous consent to enter
    three reports in their entirety into the record. The first
    would be the entire IPCC report, including its very explicit
    conclusions about anthropomorphic climate change. The second
    would be the recent National Climate Assessment, the Fourth
    National Climate Assessment, including its conclusions, that by
    the end of the century, we are likely to experience literally
    hundreds of billions of dollars in economic damage per year if
    we don't make major changes. And finally, a March 28, 2019,
    report by the World Meteorological Organization, that also
    makes clear the impacts of anthropomorphic climate change,
    including the impacts of extreme weather.
        Ms. Castor. Without objection, those are entered into the
    record.
        [The information follows:]
                                   __________
    ATTACHMENT: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis.
            Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report
            of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
              The report is retained in the committee files and available
            at: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/
            WG1AR5_all_final.pdf
    ATTACHMENT: Fourth National Climate Assessment
              The report is retained in the committee files and available
            at: https://science2017.globalchange.gov/downloads/
            CSSR2017_FullReport.pdf
    ATTACHMENT: WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2018
              The report is retained in the committee files and available
            at: https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=5789

        Ms. Castor. I would also like to note I did have an
    opportunity to glance at Mr. Palmer's request here. And while
    it talks about the trends in the number of tropical storms,
    hurricanes, major hurricane counts, I can tell you, as a
    Floridian that has lived through the past few years, that, yes,
    the number may not be impacted, but the intensity, the size,
    the amount of moisture in the atmosphere when you are talking
    about flooding, those are at issue. And those are going to be
    some of the issues that we address here going forward.
        I want to thank you all for being here, for being the voice
    of this generation. We hear you. It is now our obligation, our
    moral responsibility to take action. That is the charge of this
    select committee. From this point forward, we will be focused
    on solutions. This will be a solutions-oriented committee. And
    that includes a just transition, creating the--making sure we
    are on track to create the clean energy jobs of the future.
        We need everyone's help, all Americans, to develop the
    patriotic solutions for this country, for our planet going
    forward. So thank you all.
        Mr. Ranking Member, did you have one?
        Mr. Graves. I do.
        Madam Chair, I ask unanimous consent that we include for
    the record a statement by Mr. Benji Backer, president of the
    ACC, in the record hearing.
        And just to ensure that nothing is left out in the lines of
    Mr. Huffman's wishes, I want to ask if you could insert the
    Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019 version, into the record as well.
        So that is my last request.
        [The information follows:]

         Statement for the Record by Mr. Benji Backer, President, ACC,

                   Submitted by Ranking Member Garrett Graves

        ``To whom it may concern,
        When you examine the issue of climate change in this country, we
    are told that young liberals are invested and young conservatives don't
    care. However, as a college student and lifelong conservative political
    activist, I know firsthand this isn't true.
        In 2017, alongside my Millennial peers, I founded the American
    Conservation Coalition, an organization dedicated to conservative
    environmental solutions, including climate change. In just over a year
    since our founding, we've expanded to 120+ college campuses with
    enthusiastic conservative leaders representing us on each respective
    campus. Why have we succeeded? Because young conservatives are
    concerned about climate change--and it's a priority for them. Young
    conservatives feel left behind by the opposing party, as well as their
    own, on the issue of climate. They care about it and want to see
    solutions, but they first want the status quo to change. In fact, 59%
    of Millennial conservatives believe climate change is having an effect
    on the United States, according to last year's Pew poll. The percentage
    has been rising each year, and over 90% of independents and liberals
    see it as a problem as well. Additionally, recent polling shows that
    66% of all conservatives believe in man-made climate change.
        Young people, specifically young conservatives, are discouraged by
    the partisan bickering that the climate movement has embraced.
    Unnecessary partisan quarreling on climate change has alienated
    important voices and prevented meaningful results. Whether it's the
    Democratic Party proposing unrealistic resolutions such as the Green
    New Deal and perpetuating false doomsday scenarios, or the Republican
    Party's stagnant inaction and frequent use of climate denial language,
    both political parties have failed us on climate change thus far. To
    young people, the issue of climate change transcends party lines. Our
    environment is not a partisan issue, and it shouldn't be treated as
    such to promote political agendas. This is an issue that has massive
    implications for our children's futures, as well as our own.
        In terms of solutions, we urge Congress to explore policies that
    mitigate climate change without an increase in taxes and big
    government. Through a smart policy proposal that includes the right
    incentives, public-private partnerships, an all-of-the-above energy
    approach, and technological advancements, the United States can
    continue to take the lead on climate change.
        While other countries must act on climate change, and the United
    States has taken many steps in the right direction, I join my young
    conservative peers in calling for even greater action. We're tired of
    big-government and anti-economic policies that consistently fail. We're
    tired of the false alarmism and doomsday scenarios. We're also tired of
    conservative inaction and denial. We're ready for climate change to be
    a priority through bipartisan reforms that include important sources of
    energy (including nuclear, natural gas, and hydropower), technological
    advancements, smart market incentives, and corporate leadership. It's
    time for a new wave of climate action in this country that acknowledges
    and engages with a growing, improving economy to foster an improved
    climate.''

        Ms. Castor. Thank you.
        Thank you all for joining our kickoff hearing for the
    Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. We will look forward to
    seeing you at the next hearing.
        The committee is adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 10:52 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]