[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 22, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H2847-H2848]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, recently research has shown that fish 
populations are not waiting for climate change to make their habitat 
impossible for them to live. They're moving. That's right: fish all 
over the globe are migrating to cooler climates.
  In a process that's been taking place for decades now, fish are 
sorting themselves out and leaving areas that no longer sustain their 
quality of life, their ability to reproduce and to thrive. They've 
steadily been moving to areas where the effects of climate change are 
not so pronounced.
  Isn't it interesting that fish, without fancy scientific 
instrumentation or computer analysis, have reacted to the facts in the 
sea and moved where they can function, where they can live and where 
they can, at least for the time being, escape the impacts of climate 
change?
  They're also escaping from people who depend on them in their 
previous habitat to fish, but that's another story on the consequences 
of climate change and global warming.
  Isn't it time that the political process starts responding in ways 
that even fish can? One would hope. But, instead, today on the floor of 
the House, we're going to return to debate the Keystone pipeline that 
would carry oil extracted from Canada's tar sands to the U.S. gulf and 
short circuit Presidential review.
  Given the potential negative environmental impacts, the repeated 
efforts by some to rush the environmental and public safety review 
process, the overwhelming number of comments and concerns received from 
the public and the recent news about the atmospheric levels of carbon 
dioxide that have reached 400 parts per million, an amount not seen in 
at least 3 million years, I'm concerned that this sideshow over the 
Keystone pipeline will make our climate problem worse, rather than 
better, and poison the ability to make progress in the future.
  The simple fact is that this pipeline would facilitate the 
exploitation of one of the dirtiest sources of energy--tar sands oil--
that poses public, safety, and health risks.
  In addition to possible worsening of the effects of global climate 
change, there are serious questions that remain about pipeline safety, 
spill prevention, and protecting the public from potential health 
impacts in the wake of the spills that are inevitable.
  Tar sand developers are amazingly exempt from paying into the oil 
spill liability trust fund, making American taxpayers liable for the 
cost of any spills from the Canadian tar sands oil. This places, I 
think, an unacceptable and unnecessary risk on American taxpayers, one 
that we can ill afford to assume today.
  This will be the seventh time that we voted and that I will vote 
against proposals to streamline the building of the Keystone pipeline 
as some Members of the House continually and repeatedly attempt to 
circumvent the legislative process and rush its proposal.
  The only positive of this project is creating several thousand 
temporary construction jobs and a few dozen permanent jobs. That's no 
reason to short circuit the review required by law.
  The potential environmental harm done by the pipeline--both from the 
threat of oil spills to the precious aquifer that it will be passing 
over and because tar sands emit three times more

[[Page H2848]]

global warming pollution than conventional oil--has led me to the 
conclusion that I hope President Obama does not approve the pipeline.
  There are many things we should be doing to rebuild and renew America 
and create millions of jobs, not a few thousand temporary construction 
jobs. We ought to be looking at different approaches to revenue and 
dealing with carbon pollution. For instance, we are discussing a draft 
that would potentially tax carbon emissions dealing directly with the 
problem, help provide revenues to lower taxes, pay for what America 
needs and deal with emerging technologies and level the playing field 
for technologies of the future.
  Now, as we watch climate change begin to have serious impacts on our 
environment, our fish, our wildlife population, and our seasons and the 
weather, the least we can do is stop actions that may well make climate 
change worse.

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