[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 134 (Thursday, September 17, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H6079-H6080]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CLIMATE CHANGE AND PUBLIC HEALTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Quigley) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, there was a time when climate change was a 
concern for future generations, a time when we focused on predicting 
the possible problems and brainstorming the possible solutions, a time 
when the threat was real, but we still had time to act. We had not come 
face-to-face with our tipping point.
  That time has passed. President Obama put it best when he said: ``We 
are the first generation to feel the impacts of climate change, and the 
last generation that can still do something about it.''
  The time to act is now, and the call to action cannot be any clearer. 
Despite the fact that more than 12,000 peer-reviewed scientific studies 
are in agreement that climate change is real and humans are 
significantly to blame, my colleagues continue to debate its validity. 
Well, if the devastating global and environmental threats aren't proof 
enough, let me share some of the negative impacts climate change is 
having on our air quality and public health now.
  Simply put, climate change and air pollution make a dangerous pair. 
In fact, air pollution is among the most serious, indirect health 
effects of global climate change. The same power plants that release 
harmful carbon dioxide into our atmosphere also create dangerous levels 
of soot, smog, and ground-level ozone. The result is a combination of 
ozone and fine particles that can have devastating health impacts. In 
all, 147 million people in the U.S., nearly half of this Nation--our 
Nation--are breathing unhealthy air. And the news is far worse in 
Beijing, where a new study claims that the air in Beijing is so 
polluted, breathing it does as much damage to the lungs as smoking 40 
cigarettes a day. That is simply unacceptable.
  To make matters worse, the warmer temperatures from climate change 
are only increasing the frequency of days with unhealthy levels of 
ground-level ozone. If emissions of air pollutants remain fixed at 
today's levels until 2050, warming from climate change alone could 
increase the number of red ozone alert days by 68 percent in the 50 
largest Eastern U.S. cities.
  Studies have also linked breathing and ozone pollution to an 
increased risk of premature deaths and difficulty breathing. If there 
are no changes in regulatory controls, the CDC predicts up to 4,300 
additional premature deaths in the United States by the year 2050 from 
combined ozone and particle health effects.
  The good news is that air quality has improved dramatically in many 
American cities over the past 40 years due to the Clean Air Act. The 
Clean Air Act has a track record of cutting dangerous

[[Page H6080]]

pollution and has prevented more than 400,000 premature deaths. In 
fact, it has helped to cut ground-level ozone by more than 25 percent 
since 1980 and reduced mercury emissions by 45 percent since 1990. If 
that isn't enough, the economic value of these improvements is 
estimated to reach almost $2 trillion by the year 2020.
  The recently announced Clean Power Plan offers us the opportunity we 
need to continue to better protect public health. It is projected to 
contribute to significant ozone pollution reductions, resulting in 
important benefits including avoiding up to 3,600 premature deaths, 
90,000 asthma attacks in children, and 1,700 heart attacks.
  However, the continued effects of climate change and our inability to 
act are impairing our continued progress. Climate change is creating 
conditions that make it harder for us to clean up our air and reduce 
pollution. Without addressing one problem, we eliminate our progress on 
another.
  Unfortunately, Members of this body use every opportunity possible to 
attack the Clean Air Act and now the Clean Power Plan. These 
unprecedented assaults block, weaken, or delay a host of long overdue 
clean air safeguards. As my colleagues continue to stand in our own 
way, we are harming the environment and ultimately hurting ourselves.
  Mr. Speaker, climate change is a direct threat to humanity, and it is 
time we reexamine how we can think about it, talk about it, and respond 
to this growing problem. We may be part of the problem, but we also 
have the unique opportunity to become part of the solution.
  I think Pope Francis put it best when he said: ``Yet all is not lost. 
Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising 
above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new 
start.''
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to heed these wise words and make a 
choice to act on climate change to protect our health. We cannot afford 
to wait any longer.

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