[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 8, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H17-H18]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Costa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the impending 
impacts of climate change on our planet and the unquestionable impact 
that all of us are aware of.
  Over the world, we see prolonged droughts fueling disastrous fires. 
Over the last 6 months we have watched horrific bushfires in Australia 
with tremendous losses. People have died, half a billion animals have 
been lost, and millions of acres of land have been swallowed up by 
flames.
  As a lifelong resident of California, I have witnessed similar 
devastation in

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our own communities as a result of climate change. The past 2 years 
alone were the two worst fire seasons on record. Climate change has, no 
doubt, heightened the impact of these fires which is why we are 
witnessing these horrific impacts, and they are so difficult to manage.
  Climate change is happening now and we must do more. For starters, we 
must continue to make significant efforts to reduce our carbon 
footprint. We must continue to invest in clean air and affordable 
transportation made more readily available to all of our communities 
throughout the country.
  Last year, the House took strong steps to protect our planet in the 
future by passing H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act. H.R. 9 confronts 
the climate crisis by keeping us in the Paris Agreement, and demanding 
a plan of action from the administration to participate in a meaningful 
fashion. But that bill, along with hundreds of others, are currently 
sitting on Senator McConnell's desk collecting dust, sadly.
  These current events have made it clear that we have an imperative 
need to act on this climate crisis. And while we wait for the Senate to 
act, I am doing all that I can to make a difference in California as it 
relates to our air quality, transportation, and our water needs that 
are impacted.
  As a member of the State legislature, years ago, I created the San 
Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to help monitor and 
reduce pollution in the valley and improve our air quality, and we have 
made progress.
  I am also the cosponsor and helped to introduce the Clean Corridors 
Act and the Clean School Bus Act that also reduced greenhouse gases.
  We have also helped kick-start California's High-Speed Rail project 
which will get millions of drivers out of their cars and into cleaner, 
more accessible transportation, along with our inner-city 
transportation, our intermodal concept to use all of the modes of 
transportation more effectively for cleaner air quality.
  I am also working on water legislation that will help improve 
conservation and work toward a sustainable water supply for our farmers 
and cleaner water for our communities throughout California.
  California's broken water system is not suited to deal with the 
increased volatility caused by climate change.
  For those of you who are unaware, California gets most of its water, 
its moisture, between November and March. The rains are important. They 
are critical, and the snow in the mountains are Mother Nature's icebox.
  With climate change, we see the droughts have become longer and more 
intense, and the storms that we rely on for the snowpack are fewer and 
are at a higher elevation, which means this incredible water system 
that we have created over the last 100 years has to adapt to those 
changes.
  Food is a national security issue, not only in California, but in 
America and throughout the world. Without a reliable supply of water, 
we cannot grow food, not only for our Nation but for the planet, and so 
this is a critical issue.

  We need to understand that for 7 billion people on the planet in the 
last 2 years--suggested to increase to 9 billion by the middle of this 
century--the ability to provide a sustainable water supply for the 
entire world and for us to grow food to feed our people in this country 
is absolutely critical.
  Therefore, we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of this 
planet that we call home for ourselves and for the future generations 
to come.
  As we begin the new year, let's work together now to find bipartisan, 
commonsense solutions to help us pass along a better planet for future 
generations to come. This, among all of the other difficult issues we 
face, I believe, is the primary challenge of the 21st century.

                          ____________________