[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 145 (Thursday, September 27, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H10944]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             GLOBAL WARMING

  (Mr. HALL of New York asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HALL of New York. Mr. Speaker, this week the Select Committee on 
Energy Independence and Global Warming held two events that starkly 
presented the consequences of climate change and showed us the way 
forward to prevent them. Wildlife officials from Alaska showed pictures 
of polar bears and other species struggling to survive as the ice 
literally melts under their feet.
  The committee heard the gripping testimony of Mayor Stanley Tocktoo, 
whose village of Shmirsha, Alaska, is literally being wiped away by 
climate change. He showed footage of severe storms that polar ice once 
used to defend his village from, hundreds of feet of shore line lost 
during a single storm, and homes collapsing into the sea.
  We need to act to keep Shmirsha, Alaska, from being a harbinger for 
our communities around the continental United States. The next day, 
U.N. Special Envoys on Climate Change discussed how.
  Secretary Ban gathered over 150 countries in the largest discussion 
ever of climate change, and they testified of the need to change energy 
policy and bring emissions under control.
  We must act by passing the energy bill and taking real action on 
carbon control. The stakes are too high for soft, nonenforceable goals.

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