[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 2, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2206-S2208]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I am here for my usual climate speech. 
The Presiding Officer has seen this increasingly battered poster many 
times before.
  We have had an interesting period in the Senate recently with respect 
to climate change, and I would like to take a moment to comment on it. 
Before I do that, I think it is important to kind of frame the backdrop 
of what is going on and why this matters.
  This is the measurement of carbon dioxide levels on Earth. This goes 
back 400,000 years--no agriculture, no wheel, a long, long time ago. We 
see, over time, this recurring pattern in which CO2 levels 
stay between 180 and 300 ppm. You can go back and people can see that 
these are--there are temperature shifts that correlate with these 
CO2 levels.
  We know this--I saw Senator Brown from Ohio here. We know this 
because people have gone out--including two scientists from Ohio State. 
They have gone out to glaciers in the farthest and highest reaches of 
the planet, and they have drilled out cores of ice that go back tens of 
hundreds of thousands of years, and they are able to figure out, from 
the characteristics of the ice of that period, what the CO2 
concentrations were--that and a lot of other data as well. This is very 
well scientifically established.
  It is a little bit hard to see because it gets lost in the 0 year 
line, but this is what has happened. This is the highest level ever 
right there--highest historic CO2 level. We shot up to here. 
We are actually over 400 ppm, and the range was 180 to 300. Do the 
math. Between 300 and 180, that is 120 ppm range, and now we are 
almost, by that full range, out of that range. That is an extraordinary 
anomaly in the entire history of the species--in fact, before our 
species.
  So the idea that this has all happened before, that the climate is 
always changing, that is factual and scientific nonsense. Anybody who 
says that is either uninformed or should be ashamed of themselves 
because it is not always changing up to 400-plus ppm. It just isn't. We 
have no experience of that ever.
  We do know that as these CO2 levels go up, the planet 
warms. We have known that since Abraham Lincoln was President. When 
Abraham Lincoln was riding around here in his top hat, scientists had 
begun to understand about greenhouse gases and what that did. So there 
is nothing new in this. The science is totally established, and this is 
unprecedented in human history and before.
  Here is where it comes home to roost for me. This is a map of the 
northern part of my State. This is the lower tip of our capital city, 
Providence. Over here is Bristol and Warren. Here is Warwick. This is 
Narragansett Bay. This is the top of Prudence Island. Here is the Mount 
Hope Bay. If you can see, all the parts that you see here as blue, all 
of that is now land. All of that is now land.
  It has people's homes on it. It has people's businesses on it. It has 
some of our public recreation facilities on it. It is all predicted to 
disappear by the end of this century if we don't get our hands around 
this climate change problem. We don't have until the end of the century 
to stop it because like a giant oil tanker, you can put all engines in 
reverse, you can shut off engines, it is still going to have a lot of 
carry because of the momentum that has built up. This, where we are 
right now, is going to create effects for a long time. We have way less 
until the end of the century to act. The newest studies say we have 
about 12 years, if we really want to get ahead of this.

  There has been some interesting stuff said on the Senate floor 
recently. Tell it to the people whose homes are going to be gone. This 
isn't just a political debate. There are lives, there are people's 
homes, and there are people's businesses that are at stake.
  We had a big appearance by 13 Republican Senators led by the majority 
leader, and they all came to the Senate floor to make fun of the Green 
New Deal or at least the Koch brothers' phony cartoon version of the 
Green New Deal. Out of the 13, 12 mentioned a fanciful $93 trillion 
cost that the Koch brothers have come up with. So basically the purpose 
was to come to the floor, make fun of the Green New Deal, and pretend 
it is going to cost $93 trillion.
  Very few could even use the word ``climate change.'' Imagine that. 
There were 13 Republican Senators coming to the floor to talk about 
climate change, and all they want to do is make fun of the Green New 
Deal, mock it, pretend it is going to cost $93 trillion, and then go 
away as if these people's homes didn't matter and as if this weren't 
serious to people who are looking at this.
  The news report that I have just seen on the $93 trillion says this:

       When it comes to the $93 trillion estimate for the Green 
     New Deal, created by its critics, the answer is found in a 
     network of interlinked groups: a think tank, its political 
     arm and a super political action committee. Add a web of 
     secret donors, and eager lawmakers--

  The 13 of them--

     and you have the blurry outlines of an echo chamber that 
     propels an unverified claim into the orbit of Washington 
     politics.

  I am sure that is all good fun, but this is pretty serious, from my 
point of view. It actually got worse after that. A Senator from Utah 
came to the floor with a lot of jokes about rocket launchers, 
velociraptors, tauntauns, and 20-foot seahorses carrying Aquaman 
around.
  By the way, if you are looking at having your constituents' homes 
disappear underwater, jokes about Aquaman are not funny, not funny at 
all. Train seahorses--give me a break--jokes about cows.
  ``Critics,'' he said, ``will chastise me for not taking climate 
change seriously.'' Well, yes, I am here to do exactly that because it 
is darn serious to most everybody and particularly to my home State. So 
jokes about Sharknados just--I would say this: You might disagree with 
me about climate change, and you might not want to do anything about 
climate change, but, by God, I think if there is one thing we owe each 
other in this body, it is sincerity, and to come to the floor with an 
insincere bill that is designed to fail is demeaning to the whole body. 
To come to the floor and make jokes, when our own national scientific 
agencies are warning of these harms about all of this, it is just 
fundamentally wrong.
  Let me talk about the Senator's home State a little bit because one 
of the things I have done is paid my colleagues the sincere compliment 
of going to many of their States to look into what is going on with 
climate change. Let me review what I have said about Utah because I 
went there.
  What I have learned--I gave a speech before I went in based on 
research that I did. I gave another speech when I came out based on 
what I heard in Utah. Going in, I knew the average temperature had 
already increased 2 full degrees Fahrenheit in parts of Utah. The 2 
degrees centigrade we are

[[Page S2207]]

worried about for the globe, it is already there in Utah. There are 
actually spots in Utah where the temperature has risen as much as 4.5 
degrees Fahrenheit.
  There are significant trends in river and stream flooding and also 
the highest drying trend in rivers and streams in Southern Utah as the 
system comes unhinged. Lake Powell in Utah, when I was ready to leave, 
was about half full, which is kind of a big deal because Salt Lake City 
gets 80 percent of its water supply from snowpack in the Uinta and 
Wasatch Mountains.
  Local predictions were that water managers in Utah would no longer be 
able to depend on the historic data about snow melt and river flow 
because the change is so complete that the old data isn't germane any 
longer. There have been wildfire studies led by Dr. Philip Dennison of 
the University of Utah connecting climate change to the wildfires that 
take place out there. In fact, Utah State has entire courses of study 
teaching students about climate change--how to predict it and how to 
fight back. Utah State has its own climate action plan. It has an 
active climate center. The University of Utah has an active 
sustainability center. Students and researchers work there to address 
climate change. Each year, the University of Utah publishes an annual 
report on climate change. I am sure that is all just so amusing to my 
colleague from Utah.
  Mayors are engaged in Utah, including the mayor then of Salt Lake 
City. Mayor Ralph Becker took first place in the Mayors Climate 
Protection Center rankings. I can only imagine how amusing that was for 
the senior Senator from Utah to yuck it up about that.
  His ski areas--Alta, Canyons, Deer Crest, Deer Valley, and Park 
City--all signed the BICEP coalition's Climate Declaration in support 
of taking national action on climate change. I bet that really cracked 
him up.
  The Park City Foundation in Utah was predicting a local temperature 
increase of 6.8 degrees Fahrenheit by 2075, which they said would cause 
a total loss of snowpack in the lower Park City resort area. It kind of 
takes the fun out of skiing when there is no snow in Park City.
  A retired pediatrician named David Folland, who is the coleader of 
Salt Lake Citizens Climate Lobby, wrote there is an actual solution: 
``Placing a fee on carbon sources and returning the proceeds to 
households would create jobs, build the economy, improve public health, 
and help stabilize the climate.'' I hope my colleague from Utah has a 
chance to go talk to this retired pediatrician and hear from him just 
how amusing all of this climate change stuff is.
  Republican Presidential candidate John Huntsman, who has served Utah 
as Governor, wrote a New York Times op-ed piece back then titled ``The 
G.O.P. Can't Ignore Climate Change.'' Well, it is getting to the point 
where we are pushing them enough. They can't ignore it so much. Their 
fallback, I guess, is to make fun of it. That is really, really 
helpful.
  Here is what he wrote:

       The fact is that the planet is warming, and failing to deal 
     with this reality will leave us vulnerable and possibly 
     worse. Hedging against risk--

  He said--

     is an enduring theme of conservative thought.

  An enduring theme of conservative thought, up until it bumps up 
against the enduring theme of Republican fundraising from the fossil 
fuel industry.
  So then I went out there and had a chance to meet with the folks from 
the Utah ski industry. During the last season, they told me they had 
nearly 4\1/2\ million skiers and snowboarders and that almost 1 in 10 
jobs in Utah is in tourism. They market themselves as having what they 
call the Greatest Snow on Earth, and they pointed out that according to 
the EPA, average temperatures had already risen 2 full degrees 
Fahrenheit there over the past 100 years.
  I visited with Ski Utah and with a group of professional skiers from 
the group, Protect Our Winters, who want to see the mountaintops and 
the ski slopes that give them their recreation and give them their 
living, in many cases, protected and saved. The scientists at the 
University of Utah, including meteorologists Leigh Sturges and John 
Horel, were predicting that there would be more rain and less snow at 
major Utah ski resorts under different climate change scenarios. Rain 
at a ski resort is not a good thing, and with this many jobs in Utah, 
you would think somebody from the Utah Senate delegation might be 
willing to take this seriously and work in good faith toward a 
solution.
  Ski Utah's 14 resorts would certainly like that. They got together 
and sent a letter last year to the Governor of Utah asking the State to 
take action on climate change. Salt Lake City's letter went out too. 
Salt Lake City's drinking water, 70 percent comes from snowpack melt. 
When the snowpack goes away, so does that captured supply of water 
serving the city.
  The State, when I was there, was experiencing abnormally dry 
conditions. I went out to the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve that 
was run by The Nature Conservancy. You go out there, and you walk on 
boards over the marsh because, you know, it is marsh. It is wet. It is 
spongy. It is hard to walk through. Not then. It was dry as a bone. We 
were walking over it, but there was absolutely dry soil underneath.
  The Salt Lake itself has shrunk. The lake's volume has fallen by 
nearly half since Utah's early pioneers reached its shores in 1847. The 
lake's surface is down 11 feet. That has left roughly half of the 
former lake bed dry and exposed. The Salt Lake, for which Salt Lake 
City is named, is drying up. I guess that is another reason for a lot 
of yucks here on the Senate floor from the senior Senator from Utah.
  There is a bird--I know here in Mammoth Hall, where we care mostly 
about big interests and big money, it may seem ridiculous to talk about 
a bird. There is a bird called Wilson's phalarope. It flies a 3,000-
mile migration from the Patagonian lowlands up to the Great Salt Lake. 
As the Great Salt Lake shrinks, it is going to find that it doesn't 
have a destination. It is going to be a little like the red knot flying 
from Brazil straight through to Delaware. Imagine how long taking an 
airplane flight from Brazil to Delaware would be. Now imagine you are a 
bird that is about this high, and you have to fly all that way yourself 
in a straight shot. They do that. Here is this wonderful Wilson's 
phalarope, and its lake is drying up.
  All that dust from the dried-up lake bed is now a contaminant, 
compromising air quality in Salt Lake City, which now gets an ``F'' 
from the American Lung Association for both ozone and particulates. The 
Salt Lake City mayor then was Jackie Biskupski. She had pledged to 
transition the city to 100 percent renewable energy sources by 2032.
  I will tell you, I met with scientists from Brigham Young, Utah 
State, and the University of Utah, and there was no doubt about climate 
change. There was nobody yucking it up about climate change. There were 
no jokes about tauntauns and Aquaman. This is something they take very 
seriously. It is entitled to be taken very seriously.
  I will close by referring to some of the comments I found over the 
weekend from members and in some cases leaders of the Mormon Church, 
the Church of Latter-day Saints. Here is the official statement by 
Mormon Women for Ethical Government on Environmental Stewardship and 
Climate Change:

       The consequences of maintaining the status quo of carbon 
     emissions and the resulting rate of global temperature change 
     are dire and include major shifts in patterns of weather, 
     fire, and hydrology; large-scale impacts on biodiversity; and 
     disruption to human systems, including agriculture and food 
     supplies, migration, national security, and economies. . . . 
     We urge governments, institutions, and businesses to boldly 
     mobilize in pursuit of creative and radical strategies that 
     will effectively curb climate change and dramatically reduce 
     carbon emissions.

  I urge the Senator from Utah to read that and to listen to those 
constituents.
  G. Michael Alder wrote--I guess in the Ensign on an LDS Church 
website--``about the environmental damage caused by such man-made 
problems as acid rain, excessive carbon dioxide and other chemicals in 
the atmosphere, deforestation, and the pollution of our oceans, lakes, 
and streams,'' saying that ``as a result, serious, mostly unintended 
changes are taking place in the

[[Page S2208]]

air, water, and land around us. . . . The evidence is mounting that we 
are doing ourselves and our mortal home serious damage. . . . A 
continued increase in carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere, 
produced by our vast consumption of oil, coal, and other fossil fuels, 
appears to be responsible for a general increase in temperature 
worldwide. . . . That increase threatens possible major changes in 
climate around the world, potentially causing drought in some areas and 
greater rainfall in others. . . . The studies showed that the greatest 
global temperature increase has taken place in the last decade. Carbon 
dioxide and trace gases produced by our industrial societies were 
considered to be the cause.''
  Well, they are. In fact, they are unanimously considered to be the 
cause by the responsible science community.
  The last thing I will read is an address given by Elder Steven E. 
Snow of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 
during a panel discussion that occurred Wednesday October 10, 2018, at 
Utah State University.
  He begins by agreeing with his mountain fellow Utahans about Utah's 
fresh powder snow, calling it, again, the ``greatest snow on earth,'' 
at least according to Utah's license plates.
  He goes on to say:

       It causes me much grief when I look outside my window and 
     see a hazy inversion or when I hear consistent reports of 
     Utah's poor air quality. I am concerned for the families 
     affected by wildfires and for the schoolchildren forced to 
     stay indoors because of smoky skies.

  No jokes. He is concerned.
  He goes on:

       Algal blooms are breaking out in Utah's lakes. We are 
     experiencing unusually dry seasons and record-breaking warm 
     winters.

  He cites another church leader, President Dallin Oaks, and quotes 
him:

       These are challenging times, filled with big worries: wars 
     and rumors of wars, possible epidemics of infectious 
     diseases, droughts, floods, and global warming.

  He goes on to say, quoting a commentary on MormonNewsroom.org, that 
``the creation groans under the weight of recklessness and 
indulgence.''
  Here is the sentence that stuck with me: ``Climate change is real, 
and it's our responsibility as stewards to do what we can to limit the 
damage done to God's creation.''
  Making jokes about that will not limit the damage we are now doing to 
God's creation.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________