[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 14, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2152-S2154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLIMATE CHANGE
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, the distinguished majority leader, the
senior Senator from Kentucky, is resolutely opposed to any serious
conversation about climate change. Under his leadership, the Republican
Party in the Senate has exactly zero legislation for addressing carbon
pollution in any serious way. The majority leader has even written to
Governors around the country urging defiance of the climate change
regulations of the U.S. Government, namely, the Environmental
Protection Agency's forthcoming clean power plan to cut presently
unregulated carbon pollution from our powerplants.
I thought I should take a look at what Kentucky is doing about
climate change. It turns out that Kentucky is already crafting a plan
for complying with President Obama's clean power plan. Why are they
doing that? In a statement, the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet
said it was because ``the overwhelming majority of our stakeholders are
telling us to make preparations to submit a plan.''
The overwhelming majority of Kentucky stakeholders are telling the
State of Kentucky to submit a plan. Kentucky has an energy and
environment secretary. His name is Dr. Len Peters. Dr. Peters does not
mock or disparage the EPA. Indeed, he praised the EPA at a recent
national climate change conference for the flexibility and openness of
its rulemaking process. Dr. Peters began his talk by saying, ``I'm from
Kentucky and I'm not a climate science denier.''
Setting aside compliance with the administration's clean power plan,
Kentucky actually had its own climate action plan, written all the way
back in 2011. The Kentucky climate action plan sets forth more than 40
actions to address climate change. It would reduce Kentucky's
greenhouse gas emissions by 1.3 billion metric tons between 2011 and
2030.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife within that climate
action plan has its wildlife action plan. The wildlife action plan
opens its chapter on climate change by quoting the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change. Around here a lot of fun is sometimes made of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, at
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least on the other side of the aisle. But Kentucky's Department of Fish
and Wildlife quotes them as follows: ``[W]arming of the climate system
is unequivocal.''
That is the Commonwealth of Kentucky, quoting the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change.
The Kentucky wildlife action plan goes on to report that--and I will
quote it again--``Climate change has the potential to exacerbate
existing conservation threats . . . in Kentucky by altering both
terrestrial and aquatic systems.''
As you know, I am from the Ocean State. I am very concerned about
what climate change is doing to our oceans and what it is doing to our
coasts. Kentucky is landlocked. So imagine my surprise to read the
Kentucky wildlife action plan's discussion of sea level rise. Sure
enough, it is in there. Here is what the Kentucky wildlife action plan
says about sea level rise: ``With the predicted increases in severity
of hurricanes and tropical storms, coupled with potential shoreline
losses in Florida and throughout the eastern seaboard, people may begin
migrations inland,'' it says. It continues, ``If and when these events
occur, Kentucky may experience human population growth unprecedented to
the Commonwealth.''
That is Kentucky's statement on this. I hope the majority leader will
appreciate why I am so insistent that we tackle this climate change
problem when his own home State projects that people in our coastal
States will be so grievously affected by climate change that we may
have to flee to landlocked Kentucky.
The State government of Kentucky is not alone. Kentucky's cities--
Lexington, Louisville, Frankfurt, Bowling Green, and Villa Hills--have
signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, quoting the city
of Lexington, ``to act locally to reduce the impacts of climate change
by lowering (manmade) greenhouse gas emissions.''
Lexington, KY, actually proudly notes that the Sierra Club has
designated Lexington a cool city for signing the U.S. mayors agreement.
Maybe in time the Sierra Club will designate Kentucky's senior Senator
a cool Senator. Here is hoping.
Even fossil fuel companies in Kentucky get it. Columbia Gas of
Kentucky has a climate change link on its Web site that says ``Meeting
the Climate Challenge.'' Columbia Gas of Kentucky pledges to ``address
climate change issues through business activities which promote
sustained economic growth in a manner consistent with [our]
environmental obligations.'' Columbia Gas of Kentucky also pledges to
``promote adoption of reasonable policies addressing climate change,''
including ``appropriately crafted legislation on climate change.''
Regrettably, their Kentucky Senators have responded with exactly no
legislation on climate change, appropriate or otherwise.
Local Kentucky news station WFPL brought on a climate scientist from
NASA not too long ago who said that scientists have exhaustively
studied the numerous signs of climate change--the warming oceans, the
melting glaciers, the changing temperatures--and narrowed it down, and
the only culprit to explain what is happening is increases in mankind's
carbon emissions. The NASA scientist on the Kentucky radio station
compared it to the TV show ``CSI.'' He said, ``We've looked at all the
different suspects . . . and there's only one suspect that's still in
the picture,'' and that is human carbon emissions.
Kentucky Woodlands Magazine reports that ``the world is changing
right before our eyes. . . . our natural systems are changing as a
result of a warming climate.'' Indeed, the author says that ``we are
experiencing some of the `predicted' effects today.'' They include an
observed shift in Kentucky wildflower seasons. The article warns that
``climate change is happening as you read this article,'' and it
describes the result as ``global climate weirdness.''
One thing we know about Kentucky is that it is renowned for its
horses. So I turned to Horse & Rider magazine and found an article on
climate change and horses' health. The article noted climate change's
effects, including ``more intense extreme weather events and the
altered timing, intensity and distribution of precipitation.''
Horse & Rider magazine asked the question of ``how climate change
might affect our horses' health.'' For the answer to that question,
Horse & Rider magazine turned to Dr. Craig Carter of--guess what--the
University of Kentucky, who said, ``It's a scary thing to watch.''
Because ``climate change affects all forms of life,'' he said,
``mosquitoes, ticks, flies and other insects are moving northward'' in
describing how that move affects crops and trees and disease vectors
such as West Nile virus. This University of Kentucky expert cited
specific concerns for equine health, but he also offered this reminder:
``It's not just horses (and people) at risk; crops are being affected,
as are trees, due to beetle infestations. Climate change affects all
forms of life.''
Since so many of my Senate colleagues say they are not scientists, I
concluded my Kentucky review where scientists gather: at Kentucky's
universities. Paul Vincelli is a professor at the University of
Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. He says:
In the scientific community, it is widely accepted that the
global climate is changing and the human activities which
produce greenhouse gases are a principal cause. Greenhouse
gases have a strong capacity to trap heat in the lower
atmosphere, even though they are present at trace
concentrations.
Dr. Vincelli concludes:
This trapped heat is driving many of the recent changes in
the Earth's climate, including rising temperatures in the
oceans, on Earth's surface, and in the lower atmosphere.
Dr. Vincelli, University of Kentucky.
Another University of Kentucky summary produced by Vincelli and his
colleagues says this:
Scientific evidence that our global climate is warming is
abundant . . . Practicing scientists consider the evidence of
human-induced global warming to be extremely strong.
The University of Kentucky climate summary said:
In fact, 97 to 98 percent of the most knowledgeable
experts--scientists who actively publish research papers in
climate science--are convinced that global warming is
occurring and is caused primarily by human activities.
They go on to note that ``a consensus of 97 to 98 percent . . . is
remarkable.''
That summary adds the following warning:
Regardless of what you may read on blogs or in the media,
there is almost no meaningful scientific controversy on these
points.
There is just the controversy here in Congress.
Let's now move on to Kentucky State University. Kentucky State
University is pleased to appoint a climate change fellowship to
``engage college students in climate change education and action'' and
to provide ``in-depth training on climate change, how to best teach the
basics of climate change.'' Maybe a little of that around here might be
in order.
Over at Western Kentucky University, they host the Kentucky Climate
Center, which is the State climate office for Kentucky, on their campus
in Bowling Green.
Eastern Kentucky University offers concentrations in environmental
sustainability and stewardship, including courses on global climate
change, and its Environmental Research Institute's Web site on climate
change links you right to the IPCC work on climate change that is so
often derided here in Congress. Obviously, Eastern Kentucky University
doesn't think the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is
unreliable.
Northern Kentucky University does even better. Former Northern
Kentucky University president James Votruba signed the American College
and University Presidents' Climate Commitment, pledging Northern
Kentucky University to ``an initiative in pursuit of climate
neutrality,'' i.e., having ``no net greenhouse gas emissions,'' if
necessary by ``using carbon offsets or other measures to mitigate the
remaining emissions.'' In 2010, Northern Kentucky University adopted an
action plan calling on every department and all members of the Northern
Kentucky University community to do their part to help the university
achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
My tour of Kentucky's great centers of higher learning leads me to
one last Kentucky university--one that is unique in that its Web page
display of
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notable alumni includes none other than our distinguished majority
leader, Senator McConnell. This is the University of Louisville.
The University of Louisville goes out of its way to expose its
students to the reality of climate change. Professor Keith Mountain is
chair of the University of Louisville Department of Geography and
Geosciences. He has lectured on ``Stewardship in a Time of Global
Climate Change,'' a talk about ``how climate change is a measurable
reality and how people have contributed to the trends.'' That is the
chair of the University of Louisville Department of Geography and
Geosciences.
The University of Louisville has also brought in Lonnie Dupre,
``mountain climber, polar explorer, and a climate change activist,'' to
describe for University of Louisville students ``his personal witness
of the detrimental effects of global climate change over 25 years of
polar exploring.'' They brought in prize-winning ecologist Diana Wall
for a University of Louisville Biology Department lecture series to
talk about ``fragile soil systems and their role in climate change.''
University of Louisville students have been involved, too, in Climate
Change Teach-Ins, where students, faculty, and staff join together ``to
inform, inspire and educate others about the climate change crisis.''
One student concluded, ``The university needs more events similar to
the teach-in to raise awareness about climate change.'' I hope they
will consider raising awareness among their alumni as well.
Let me close this discussion with two slides that were prepared for
Kentucky's Governor's Conference on Energy and the Environment for a
presentation on ``Kentucky and the President's Climate Action Plan.''
This is a depiction of our country's energy mix broken out by
renewables, natural gas, coal, petroleum, hydroelectric, and nuclear.
We can see there are a lot of layers in the cake. This layer represents
coal in the U.S. energy mix as of 2012. This is Kentucky's energy mix.
As we can see, it is a black wall of coal. Even Wyoming, which produces
more than four times as much coal as Kentucky, has a more diverse
energy mix than this. Could they do better? I think so.
There is a song called ``Warm Kentucky Sunshine.'' Kentucky has a
town named Sunshine. There is even a cocktail called a Kentucky
Sunshine. But we would never know it from their energy mix. That is one
of the reasons that Kentucky's efforts to prepare for the Clean Power
Plan are so promising.
So before our distinguished majority leader, the senior Senator from
Kentucky, asks all of the other States to throw in the towel on
conforming to the U.S. Government's plan for dealing with carbon
pollution, I would ask that he acknowledge that his own State
recognizes climate change as a problem and as an opportunity and that
Kentucky is trying to do something about it.
As to the possibilities, ask Senator Grassley, whose State has 28
percent wind energy. Look at Kentucky's mix. Iowa has 28 percent wind
energy.
As to the possibilities, the distinguished majority leader could ask
his deputy majority leader, Senator Cornyn of Texas, whose home State
has more than 10 percent wind energy and a solar industry providing
more than 330 megawatts, more than 7,000 jobs, and rapid growth.
I hope Kentucky doesn't decide to change its present course and to
throw in the towel without even trying. We can do this.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
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