[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 190 (Tuesday, December 15, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H14880]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             GLOBAL WARMING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, this morning, listeners to NPR 
Marketplace heard the insurance industry dealing with the problems of 
global warming. Extreme weather events, actually, is why they were 
concerned. That term global warming actually means drought, flood, heat 
waves, intense storms, breaking seasonal patterns. In my region of the 
Pacific northwest, it means long, slow trends, like the increase in 
spring temperatures over the last 70 years, that lead to a significant 
decline in the snow pack that we rely upon for drinking water and 
hydropower.
  As our congressional delegation heads to Copenhagen this week to join 
with parliamentarians from around the world, we will be able to be 
involved with a critical discussion on how we are going to meet those 
challenges. Our delegation is going to be somewhat unique because, 
while other groups of parliamentarians in other countries are of 
different parties and disagree on the best solution to deal with 
climate change and extreme weather events, ours, with the possible 
exception of Saudi Arabia, will be the only one where there are some 
people who actually question the science and the need for action.
  This is unfortunate, because the facts are clear. Even regarding the 
recent dust up over stolen e-mails of some of the climate scientists, 
it doesn't change the scientific consensus that we are involved in a 
period of significant global warming and that human activity is the 
cause. Despite some dispute over whether this year is the fourth, fifth 
or sixth warmest in history, there is no question but that the current 
decade will be the hottest since we began recording temperatures.
  Even with the consensus on science, there still is a great deal of 
real controversy in Copenhagen about how we are going to move forward.
  I think it's very important for us to highlight the encouraging 
dynamic that is taking shape, because there is a consensus for taking 
action. The question is in implementation both of speed and scale.
  There is good news that the United States is no longer missing in 
action. As the world's largest economy, the second largest emitter this 
year and still the leader in the history of the world in total 
emissions, it's important that the United States finally joins with the 
rest of the developed world to deal with this question. It is 
encouraging that the Obama administration and the new Congress has been 
acting from the very beginning of this session of Congress with an $80 
billion investment in clean energy.
  After years of delay, the Obama administration acted on what we 
passed in the last Congress to increase the long overdue improvement in 
automobile fuel efficiency. The EPA has finally announced that it is 
going to follow the law dealing with carbon pollution, as the Bush 
administration was directed by the Supreme Court but refused to do.
  We have had the historic passage of the Waxman-Markey legislation, 
for the first time in history putting Congress on record supporting 
comprehension climate legislation. The administration will use the 
House bill as the basis for targeted reductions in greenhouse gases. We 
have emerging in the Senate a bipartisan framework with Senator Kerry, 
Senator Lieberman and Senator Graham providing the leadership in that 
area.
  It's exciting to see the pieces come together, Mr. Speaker. It is 
frustrating to see it slow, and time is of the essence, but finally 
it's clear that action is in everybody's interest. The United States 
can no longer afford to waste more energy than anybody in the world. 
It's exciting to see the European Union, China and India all acting, at 
least in their own way, moving in this direction. The dominos are 
falling for new, clean, energy economies, managing forests to protect 
the planet and new sustainable agriculture.
  All this will happen. The question is when. I am encouraged that in 
Copenhagen there is a process that the United States can help move us 
forward.

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