[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 89 (Monday, June 2, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4861-S4863]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLIMATE SECURITY
Mr. REID. Mr. President, there are lots of different stories around
the country and around the world as to why people feel so strongly
about the environment. My story I think is similar to others but just
in a different context.
As most everyone knows by now, I grew up in a little mining town in
southern Nevada--very arid, no water anyplace around. Had it not been
for the discovery of gold, there would have been no Searchlight. To get
water in Searchlight, you had to go deep into the bowels of the earth--
500 feet, sometimes deeper than that.
I didn't travel much at all as a boy. I was a teenager before I went
50 miles to a place called Needles, CA. But three or four times during
the time I was growing up, we would travel out of Searchlight right
over the California border, about 20-some-odd miles from Searchlight,
of course all on dirt roads, to see a freak of nature: these mountains,
volcanic black mountains, out of the side of which gushed water. It was
called Piute Springs, Fort Piute.
The reason we called it Fort Piute is during the Civil War, the U.S.
Government built a military outpost there. When I was a boy growing up,
you could see these big rocks they had built and spent 8 or 9 months
building this place, and it still had the holes where soldiers could
stick out their guns.
For a young boy, this was about as good as it gets--to go up into
that fort and pretend you were one of the soldiers looking out one of
those little windows. You had to stand on something they had down there
to get high enough that you could do that. Even though that was a
wonder, what was in that spring was even more wondrous. So in a place
like Searchlight, where there was no water anyplace, and you could not
grow trees--because it was rocky--even if you had water, gushing out of
this mountain was a spring that ran for a couple of miles. As it came
out of the mountain, it created all kinds of lush greenery. It is hard
to comprehend, but even there--I read about them--they had lily pods,
these big green things with flowers on them, floating around in the
water. And they had these things--I don't know what they are called,
but they are long and shaped like a hot dog; you break them open and
white stuff comes out of them. I don't know what they are called, but
you could see them, too.
You could take a rock and throw it down in that ditch, which
sometimes was half as deep as this room we are in--the Senate Chamber--
and it would sound like an airplane taking off. It was birds, birds--
hundreds and hundreds of birds.
My wife was born in Southern California. I think it is no secret that
she was never impressed with Searchlight when we were going to high
school. When we went away to college and law school--back here is where
we went to law school--I told her about that place. Without in any way
prejudging her thoughts, I am confident she didn't believe what I was
telling her about this lush place not far from Searchlight. It was the
thing people dream of. But after we had children, I took her to Paiute
Springs. What a disappointment. During the time I had been gone, people
had vandalized the fort and knocked down most of the big rocks. The
foundation was still there, but you were lucky to find it that high.
They set fire to the trees. The water from the spring was still coming,
but it had been trashed. There was garbage all over and it was such a
disappointment. That is the day I became an environmentalist. We have
to protect the wonders of nature, and Paiute Springs is a wonder. It is
a freak of nature. How in the world in this arid volcanic rock
formation up in those mountains could water possibly be coming out? I
have focused on that, and we have spent taxpayer dollars in the last
few years improving Paiute Springs, making it more accessible, and
making needed repairs to the damage that has been done to it over these
many years. There are wonderful stories about Paiute Springs. I guess
that is why I feel so strongly about what we are doing here today.
We are going to vote on a motion to invoke cloture on the motion to
proceed to S. 3036, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. I have
to say that I am stunned by my friend, the distinguished Republican
leader, who said he was surprised we would move to
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this bill now because it might have an impact on gas prices. We all
know gas prices are awfully high. In fact, they have gone up more than
250 percent since the Republicans took over the White House 7\1/2\
years ago.
What the Republican leader didn't say is that the Energy Information
Administration's projections for this climate bill might cause energy
prices to increase over the next 25 years. He didn't mention that
energy consumers will get an $800 billion tax cut to offset these
gradual cost increases. I guess none of us should be surprised that the
Republicans have actually already initiated a filibuster on a motion to
proceed to this legislation.
Now, they will say that later today we are all going to vote for it.
If that is the case, we should have been on this bill now--we should be
on it now. We should not have to wait until 30 hours after we vote
tonight. I hope they will let us go to the bill in the morning. But if
the past is prolog, then they are going to eat up and waste 30 hours--
30 hours that will start running this afternoon about 5:50, and will
expire around midnight tomorrow night. This is what they have been
doing for a year and almost six months.
It is a disappointment that they are adding to their all-time record
of filibusters, 71. This is too bad. My friend, the distinguished
Republican leader, said this bill makes it so that we, the majority,
are laughably--that is his word--out of touch. With so many Americans
suffering the consequences of the Bush economy and so much work for
Congress to do, that statement is unfortunate. Should we wait until
Tuesday? Of course not. We should be legislating. If there are efforts
made to improve the legislation, fine, let them do it.
Blocking legislation, as they have done time and time again, is their
right. But what is the point? What is the purpose? Who does wasting 30
hours benefit?
I hope that during the debate, Senators will keep their remarks
focused on the legislation before us or any specific reasons they have
for objecting to proceeding to the bill itself. This is not directly a
debate on gas prices. We have tried to do some legislating on that and
we have been thwarted at every possible step. How? With Republican
filibusters.
After the debate on the motion to proceed, of course, we will move to
the bill. Senator Boxer will lay down a comprehensive substitute
amendment with the full support of Senators Warner and Lieberman. The
Senate will then proceed to the most comprehensive global warming
legislation ever to come before any legislative body in the history of
the world.
During consideration of this legislation, Senators will debate many
subjects. But beyond all specific points of contention, one fact is
indisputable: Global warming is real and it is caused mainly by manmade
pollution.
The changes we see occurring all around us--drought, altered growing
seasons, sea level rises, more intense precipitation and wildfires,
storms that are shorter and more intense--are caused or worsened by the
warming of the Earth.
Over the course of human civilization, and growing faster and faster
since the Industrial Revolution, we have burned billions upon billions
of tons of fossil fuels and thrown the waste carbon into the
atmosphere.
We have taken carbon from the Earth and put it into the sky. That has
caused the Earth to have a fever--a fever that is growing worse every
day, not better. All of that excess carbon in the atmosphere far
surpasses the atmosphere's natural ability to handle it.
We know now, with great certainty, that this process has caused
average global temperatures to rise. Nobody can dispute that. It is
making oceans more acidic and altering planetary biochemistry.
As the amount of carbon we put into the atmosphere continues to rise,
the risk to our planet and way of life grows more and more dangerous.
Nevada is the driest State in the Union. Las Vegas' average yearly
rainfall is 4 inches. My hometown of Searchlight--approximately 60
miles away--is a regular ``rain forest'' with 8 inches a year.
Our entire country and our entire planet face many risks due to
global warming. But for arid States such as Nevada and the desert
Southwest, the risk perhaps is the greatest.
The upper Colorado region saw better than average rainfall last year.
We have been in at least a 10-year drought. This is the water that goes
into the Colorado River. It is called the upper Colorado region. Last
year, even though it was average rainfall, or a little above, not a
single drop of that moisture got into the river. It all evaporated
beforehand.
Nevada, like the entire West, is already seeing increased wildfires.
Longer summers result in more dried-out fuels, which allow fires to
ignite easier and spread faster. The wildfire season in the West is now
78 days longer than it was three decades ago. During that 78 extra
days, there was more lightning, and the fuel is drier. The average
duration of fires covering more than 2,500 acres has risen five times
over. A fire of 2,500 acres is no big deal anymore. It used to be.
The world's leading climate researchers have concluded that if
greenhouse gases continue to increase, the Southwest region faces
longer and more intense droughts; still larger, more intense wildfires;
more winter and spring flooding but reduced summer and fall runoff,
with rivers in these seasons reduced to a trickle; more intense
precipitation and storms when it rains, resulting in an increased flood
risk; and longer and intense heat, with a correspondingly adverse
impact on public health, particularly on the elderly.
I have focused only on the Southwest, but this is the way it is all
over the country. I know more about the Southwest.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of American scientists tell us that the
United States must begin making significant reductions by 2015 and
reduce our emissions by 80 to 90 percent by 2050 if we hope to restore
balance to the global climate system. That won't be easy. It could be
the most significant challenge the world has ever faced.
Not every expert agrees on the quickest and most cost-effective path
to get there, but all agree that the one thing we cannot afford is
delay.
The bill before us is a positive and critical first step in a journey
that will require innovation and cooperation both here and abroad.
This legislation addresses enormous challenges we face with long-term
solutions that we leave our children, their children, and generations
to come with a healthier, more livable planet.
The bill now before us does more than simply bring us closer to the
worthy goal of protecting our environment. At a time Americans are
losing their jobs and struggling to compete in the global marketplace,
the Boxer-Warner-Lieberman bill is also about creating a new and
powerful economic engine. It is about creating hundreds of thousands,
if not millions, of high-paying permanent and sustainable jobs in our
country. These jobs cannot be exported. It is about restoring our
country's place as a global leader in technology and innovation. It is
about ending our addiction to oil and our reliance on unfriendly,
unstable regions from which it is imported.
Today we consume 21 million barrels of oil every day. That goes on
tomorrow, the whole week, every week of the month, and every month of
the year. That oil costs our Nation $2.7 billion each day. That is what
we are paying for this oil. We import 65 percent or more of the oil we
use. We are spending about a trillion dollars every year, which goes
straight into the pockets of countries that don't have our best
interests at heart--and that is an understatement.
The bill is also about creating a clean energy revolution by capping
carbon pollution. A dwindling few continue to insist that global
warming is a hoax--their word, not mine--and that it is not manmade, or
that we should sit on our hands, stand by the status quo and wait for
more evidence. They say let the marketplace take care of it. The
marketplace has dug this hole we are in now and we are stuck in the
hole. The marketplace has no roadmap to dig us out of this hole. These
same people would have insisted in years past that cigarettes are
OK; smoking or chewing is fine; there is no need to put seatbelts in
cars; people have the right to make their own decisions; you don't need
motorcycle helmets; certainly there is no reason to have speed limits
anyplace at any time. These alarmists' and naysayers' time has passed.
[[Page S4863]]
Some say it is even cheaper to do nothing. Said a different way, they
claim this is an entirely earthly cycle. Just wait and all will be
well; our great Earth will correct it.
Some say we should wait until developing nations, such as China and
India, take the lead. We heard the Republican leader say: Let them
lead, not us. I say the United States, the greatest Nation in the
history of the world, is obligated to lead, not to follow, on this most
important issue of our time and perhaps of all time.
President Bush says: Let's bide our time until 2025. Is it cheaper to
do nothing? Of course not. It is the opposite. The longer we wait, the
more it will cost to solve this very difficult problem.
The Climate Security Act, the bill before us today, will cut taxes by
$800 billion and finance the transition to clean alternative fuels by
making polluters pay.
Let me talk a little bit about the sponsors of this legislation. This
is bipartisan legislation. This is not some wild idea somebody came up
with that sounds good. It is an idea where the two sponsors, Lieberman-
Warner, a Democrat and a Republican, members of the Environment and
Public Works Committee, got together and said: We need to do something
about this situation.
They both have records for integrity and advocacy that are in the
best keeping of the Senate. I don't always agree with Senator
Lieberman. As everyone knows, I think he has been wrong on the war, and
I have told him that. Senator Warner and I have disagreed on issues in
the past. But I have great respect for both these fine legislators.
Senator Warner is a man who has made a difference in his 29\1/2\ years
in the Senate. His advocacy is making a difference. So I admire and
respect Senators Lieberman and Warner for their work on this
legislation.
I talked about this legislation cutting taxes by $800 billion, and it
finances the transition to clean alternative fuels by making polluters
pay.
While we are investing in renewable fuels and renewing our
environment, we will be investing in an entirely new industry--a high-
tech, ``green collar'' economy--that will create jobs and develop the
great companies of today and tomorrow.
Hundreds of thousands of new jobs in renewable energy have already
been created by foresighted investors who see the need for clean energy
that does not contribute to global warming. Millions more jobs can be
created with the enactment of a strong cap-and-trade system that is in
this legislation.
My State, Nevada, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of
Alabama--those Senators present--are blessed with all kinds of good
things in the environment. Specifically, though, Nevada, and most of
our Nation, is blessed with an abundance of renewable energy resources
that far exceed anything we would ever hope to get from fossil fuels.
Take, for example, solar energy. In the West, it is tremendously
abundant. In most all of our country, it is abundant. It is on the
verge of tremendous cost and efficiency breakthroughs.
It is not as if it has not been done in other places. Look what some
of the Scandinavian countries have done with wind. They don't have a
lot of Sun, but they have lots of wind, and they are creating huge
numbers of jobs and lots of energy with their windmills.
There are people in the Midwestern part of the United States today
who are farmers who are making more money from their windmills on their
farms than they are from the crops they grow.
Solar energy, abundant in Nevada and the West, is on the verge of
tremendous cost and efficiency breakthroughs. Geothermal energy can be
found in Nevada, California, New Mexico, and other parts of the West.
Wells can be drilled that harness the steam coming from the ground and
turn it into productive energy. Wind energy can be effectively
harnessed all across America.
We can break down the last barriers to the success of solar by
enacting an effective cap-and-trade system that will level the playing
field with dirty, polluting energy. We have to win the battle against
dirty, polluting energy. Should we, as some say, wait for China and
India to act? Of course not. Since when does America let other
countries lead the way? It is our responsibility to forge the path
other nations will follow. But beyond our moral responsibility is a
tremendous opportunity for the green gold rush to take place here at
home.
Should we wait until 2025, as President Bush would have us do? I
don't think so. By 2025, our window of opportunity may well be closed.
That is what the scientists tell us. The tipping point the scientists
fear--the time at which the environmental impact of global warming
becomes severe and irreversible--may have been reached by then, and our
chance to create millions of new jobs, catalyze technology development,
and keep investment in America will surely be lost. We must move
forward. The path of delay, the path of wait and see--the chosen path
of Bush and Cheney--ends in certain failure.
Let's withdraw our focus from oil and focus instead on solar, wind,
geothermal, and biomass energies. We must not settle for failure. For
7\1/2\ years of the Bush administration we have come to expect it. We
need to do better.
The Boxer-Warner-Lieberman bill is bipartisan in the truest sense.
What better opportunity than to show the American people and the world
the Senate is ready to move beyond partisanship to do the right thing.
A time will come not far from now when a future generation will look
back on us today. They will know what we know--that today global
warming is real. Did we take the opportunity, did we accept the
challenge to do something about it? That is what future generations are
going to look back on. It is upon us to act now. We have to do it. The
opportunity is here and we have to take it. That the future of our
planet, our economy, and our security depend on choices we make now is
without question.
I hope all my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, will make
responsible decisions now to make future generations safe, secure,
prosperous, and proud.
I will finally say, my friend, the distinguished Republican leader,
in citing his authority for doing nothing, said to read Charles
Krauthammer. Everyone knows Charles Krauthammer is one of the most
conservative columnists in America. The Wall Street Journal is not a
sufficient authority to overrule the vast majority of scientists in
America today--in the world today.
We are behind. Other countries are ahead of us. Great Britain and
other countries around the world have done much more than we have done.
We have a responsibility. Our Earth, I repeat, has a fever. The fever
is going up, not down, and we have to bring that fever down. This
legislation is our start to making our Earth well.
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