[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 200 (Thursday, December 7, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1673]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF THE GEOENGINEERING RESEARCH EVALUATION ACT OF 2017

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                          HON. JERRY McNERNEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 7, 2017

  Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a bill to further 
our understanding of geoengineering as a potential strategy to prevent 
the most detrimental impacts of climate change. The evidence of climate 
change and its effects can already be seen around the world. The 
situation in the Arctic is alarming, as sea ice is declining by more 
than 13 percent per decade. Increased global temperatures, warming 
oceans, rising sea levels, more intense hurricanes and droughts--the 
writing is on the wall.
  Slowing these trends and eventually reversing them is the greatest 
challenge humankind has ever faced. Our first priority in addressing 
climate change should be to embrace climate mitigation strategies. This 
includes drastically reducing our emissions, embracing clean energy, 
and shifting our economies away from fossil fuels. This problem stops 
getting worse when we stop emitting greenhouse gases into the 
atmosphere, which means we have a long way to go.
  Scientists have made very clear that as global temperatures rise 
there will be severe consequences to our society--it will harm public 
health, our economies, and our very way of life. While geoengineering 
should be considered a potential last resort in preventing climate 
change, it is something we need to better understand.
  My bill would direct the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering 
and Mathematics to lay out a research agenda and governance principles 
for geoengineering research. I want to be clear--this is not 
authorizing any large-scale deployment and, frankly, we are decades if 
not longer from any serious consideration of geoengineering as a 
legitimate strategy for temporarily addressing climate change. The bill 
would authorize a rigorous review process to determine where we should 
make federal investments in this emerging research field and how we 
should set up oversight of this research.
  There is no substitute for drastically reducing carbon pollution. Our 
focus can no longer just be a question of how much we can mitigate 
against climate change, but also how fast we can do it. The urgency of 
climate change forces us to consider every option, and geoengineering 
is one that should be researched as we continue our mitigation efforts.
  I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this well-vetted, 
thoughtful approach to better understanding geoengineering and its 
potential to combat the effects of climate change.

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