[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 31 (Wednesday, February 16, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S730-S731]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Climate Change

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, at the end of this month, the U.S. Supreme 
Court is slated to hear oral arguments in the case of West Virginia v. 
EPA, in which the Justices will consider the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The 
stakes could not be higher. This case will have lasting impacts in 
Maryland, the Nation, and the planet.
  As we follow the science and work to mitigate the damaging impacts of 
climate change, it is imperative that the Court respect EPA's 
authority, which

[[Page S731]]

Congress granted, to regulate greenhouse gas emissions to protect 
public health and the environment.
  I would like to take a moment to consider where we are and how we got 
here.
  At issue in the case is the question of whether EPA acted outside of 
its statutory authority when it promulgated in 2015 the Clean Power 
Plan, the CPP, which established guidelines for States to limit carbon 
dioxide emissions from powerplants. The Trump administration repealed 
the CPP and issued in its place the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which 
eliminated or deferred the guidelines. The U.S. Court of Appeals for 
the DC Circuit vacated the Affordable Clean Energy rule as arbitrary 
and capricious.
  One of the challengers, North American Coal Corporation, challenged 
how broad the EPA's authority is to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
  Notably, the Clean Power Plan was never implemented. Yet several of 
the parties challenging the plan are asking the Supreme Court to issue 
a decision far beyond whether the CPP constitutes a reasonable 
interpretation of section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. The challengers 
have put forth interpretations of two legal doctrines--the 
nondelegation and major questions doctrines--that could, if adopted, 
strip EPA of its authority to regulate greenhouse gases entirely.
  The Supreme Court has spoken on the Clean Air Act. In 2007, in 
Massachusetts v. EPA, a Supreme Court decision ruled that EPA has the 
authority to regulate heat-trapping gases in vehicle emissions. The 
majority found that the Agency could not sidestep its authority to 
regulate greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change 
unless it could prove a scientific basis for its refusal. There is 
none.
  The same year, in Environmental Defense v. Duke Energy, the Court 
ruled unanimously with regards to the EPA's authority to regulate 
factories and powerplants that add capacity or make renovations that 
increase emissions of air pollutants.
  In the current case of West Virginia v. EPA, I joined Chairman 
Carper's amicus brief with nearly 200 Members of Congress. The brief 
illustrates EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act to protect the 
public from harmful pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and 
address the climate crisis. It also rejects arguments made by the 
petitioners challenging the EPA's authority to address carbon 
pollution. It is among a notable number of briefs filed in this case, 
many citing my home State of Maryland.
  In their brief in support of the respondents, climate scientists 
observe that heavy rain and snowstorms across most of the United States 
have increased in both intensity and frequency since 2001. The 
Northeast region also faces flooding, particularly in the historic 
districts of cities like Annapolis, MD--home to the U.S. Naval 
Academy--and Newport, RI, as well as portions of Washington, DC, near 
the Tidal Basin. For example, human-caused climate change made the 
exceptionally heavy precipitation and flooding events that occurred in 
2018 in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington, DC, up to 
2.3 times more likely.
  The Washington Post reported that more than 40 percent of Americans 
live in counties hit by climate-related disasters in 2021, including 
three in Maryland: St. Mary's County and Calvert County in Southern 
Maryland and Dorchester County along Maryland's Eastern Shore. 
According to FEMA data, each suffered declared disasters spawned by 
hurricanes.
  Because of the vulnerability in my home State, I took direct action 
in 2019. I was proud to lead an effort with over 20 of my colleagues in 
a joint resolution providing for the congressional disapproval of the 
Trump administration's repeal of the Clean Power Plan.
  Maryland is at risk not only to extreme weather events but also to 
slow-onset climate impacts that are equally damaging.
  The National Parks Conservation Association in its brief remarks on 
Maryland's cultural history:

       The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical 
     Park is located in . . . Maryland. The approximate elevation 
     of the park is a mere three feet above sea level and is 
     surrounded by the inlets of the Chesapeake Bay. Viewed 
     another way, 3 feet is half the depth of one-quarter of 
     the bay.
       As water levels continue to rise, this national historic 
     park may be permanently lost.

  The National Park Conservation Association's brief discusses the 
obligations Congress conferred on EPA to protect public lands and their 
resources.
  On February 15, NOAA announced the interagency ``Sea Level Rise 
Technical Report,'' which provides the most up-to-date sea level rise 
scenarios, available for all U.S. States and territories. The report 
projects sea levels along the coastline will rise an additional 10 to 
12 inches by 2050, with specific amounts varying regionally, mainly due 
to land height changes.
  This effort is a product of the interagency Sea Level Rise and 
Coastal Flood Hazard and Tool Task Force, comprised of NOAA, NASA, EPA, 
USGS, Department of Defense, FEMA, and the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers, as well as several academic institutions. The report 
leverages methods and insights from both the United Nations 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ``Sixth Assessment Report'' 
and supporting research from the U.S. Department of Defense regional 
sea level database. The report tells us that the United States is 
expected to experience as much sea level rise by the year 2050 as it 
witnessed in the previous 100 years, and it must serve as a wake-up 
call.
  Maryland's urban and suburban centers, in addition to our rural 
communities and coasts, are in danger. The National League of Cities 
and the U.S. Conference of Mayors in their brief state that Baltimore, 
MD, as well as other major cities, including Washington, DC, 
Philadelphia, and Boston, have all experienced significant increases in 
exposure to wildfire smoke that prevailing winds carry across the 
country.
  State and local governments are taking action. In their brief, the 
National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors cite that 
in 2013, ``Baltimore developed comprehensive responses--touching 
infrastructure, building codes, natural coastal barriers, and public 
services--to threats from rising seas, heat waves, and storms. [In 
central Maryland], Annapolis developed a first-in-the-nation Cultural 
Resources Hazard Mitigation Plan in 2018 to mitigate climate impacts on 
important cultural and historical landmarks, and the Eastern Shore 
Climate Adaptation Partnership has brought together local governments 
from across the Eastern Shore to prepare for climate impacts.''
  Private companies, too, are among subnational actors that are all-in 
on climate. Maryland's McCormick & Company has set a new, more 
ambitious goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions 42 percent by 
2030, after achieving its prior target of 20 percent by 2025--4 years 
earlier than expected. The spice manufacturer and Fortune 500 company 
has also announced a new commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 
2050, in line with the enhanced U.S. National Determined Contribution 
Secretary Kerry delivered ahead of the COP26 meeting that occurred last 
year. But the company cannot mitigate climate change alone. The Federal 
Government must support it. The Clean Air Act is an essential tool by 
which we do so.
  Through the Build Back Better agenda and elsewhere, Congress is 
taking an all-of-the-above strategy to combat climate change, 
complemented by the Biden administration's whole-of-government 
approach.
  I am proud that the draft Senate Environment and Public Works 
Committee title to fulfill reconciliation instructions includes funding 
legislation to make Federal buildings greener. But more is needed. The 
legislation also includes funding for water utilities to enhance their 
resilience to natural hazards as authorized by the bipartisan 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
  The Supreme Court must tread carefully in curtailing any specific 
tool, including the Clean Air Act, and must not intercede where 
legislative efforts to curb EPA's authority have failed. Conversely, we 
must continue to pursue as many avenues as possible to deal with the 
climate crisis.
  I yield the floor.