[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5559]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                CLIMATE CHANGE THREATENS COLORADO RIVER

  (Mr. GRIJALVA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a member of the Safe 
Climate Caucus. Earlier this week, American Rivers published its annual 
list of the country's most-threatened rivers. Primarily because of over 
allocation, the Colorado River is at the top of that list. That is a 
challenging place to be.
  Across our region, 34 million people rely on the Colorado River for 
drinking water. That includes cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and 
Phoenix. The Colorado River snakes through the Grand Canyon and is 
truly the lifeblood of Arizona, and that's why I continue to advocate 
for Federal solutions to threats from uranium mining and other sources 
of contamination.
  But the real and most serious threat to the health of the Colorado 
River is climate change, and that should not be ignored. Scientists 
predict that climate change will reduce the Colorado River's flow by up 
to 30 percent by 2050, threatening all those communities and resources, 
including recreation and agriculture.
  We need proactive solutions. We need strategies to manage and 
mitigate climate change and the impacts of climate change. The majority 
has to deal with this question. It cannot be ignored. The Safe Climate 
Caucus is challenging the majority to floor debate on climate change. 
We look forward to that opportunity; and for the sake of the Colorado 
River, that debate needs to happen.

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