[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 4, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H1547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      POLLUTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, we are used to a world with gloomy news 
regarding the jarring impact and threats of climate change.
  We are experiencing wildfires in the Pacific Northwest this winter. 
The snowpack is a small percentage of normal, which is not just bad 
news for skiers now; it means lower river levels in the spring that 
will affect hydropower production, irrigation for farmers, and further 
damage to ever-troubled fish runs. California is experiencing its worst 
drought in 500 years--not really manmade, as some of my Republican 
California colleagues claim. Although it is interesting, as pointed out 
in the L.A. Times yesterday in an editorial: ``Funny, isn't it, that 
folks who question man's ability to affect the global climate are so 
quick to assign human causes to the drought?''
  There are severe strains on the Colorado River Basin, and 40 million 
people are heavily dependent on that water throughout the Southwest. 
Last week, we heard about the massive penguin die-off due to changing 
weather patterns. Of course we have been experiencing the polar vortex 
and wild weather this winter.
  With all these bad signs, it was interesting to see a positive 
message emerge yesterday on the front page of The Washington Post about 
air pollution in China. To be sure, Chinese pollution still threatens, 
producing the most carbon emissions on the planet, which portend far 
worse climate problems in the future for everyone. It causes 1 million 
premature deaths a year in China and, in fact, threatens the health of 
west coast Americans, as we regularly breathe Chinese pollution that 
blows across the ocean.
  It is encouraging that China is taking steps to acknowledge the 
problem, to track and publicize the severe pollution levels when, 5 
years ago, they asked the United States Embassy in Beijing to stop 
publishing that same embarrassing data.
  Now the Chinese Government is publishing the information itself and 
is even ranking the worst offenders. The 10 most polluted Chinese 
cities have air quality levels 6 to 10 times the pollution of the 10 
worst American cities. The Chinese are providing realtime disclosure of 
pollution that is more ambitious than anything the United States did in 
the EPA's highly successful toxic release inventory that dates back 
almost 30 years.
  It is absolutely critical that China acknowledge the problem and hold 
people accountable for the pollution, but it is even better news that 
the Chinese are going beyond mere data collection, as they unveiled a 
$280 billion plan to improve air quality, including limiting coal use 
and banning high pollution vehicles.
  Isn't it ironic that the Repulbican leadership in the House of 
Representatives is determined to prevent the United States EPA from 
taking the next steps to clean up our dirty coal plants and protect us 
from the carbon pollution that is causing such climate disruption, all 
the while denying the science.
  One hopes that the United States will come to its senses while it 
appears the Chinese are starting to come around. The future of the 
planet for our children and grandchildren depends upon it.

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