[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5596-5598]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, today is Earth Day, so I wanted to come to 
the floor and reflect on some of the changes our Earth is experiencing 
and to talk at some length about how those changes are affecting my 
home State of Delaware and how the Delaware community is studying, 
planning, and preparing to deal with these important changes.
  The recent National Climate Assessment has said that the last decade 
in the United States was the hottest on record, and that the last year 
was the hottest year ever recorded through the U.S. Government. We are 
waking up to fewer mornings with frost on our windshields, to less snow 
cover, to warmer oceans and freshwater sources, to more frequent and 
intense storms, to heat waves, to floods and droughts.
  These many changes are affecting human health, agriculture, 
transportation, our water supply, our ecosystem, wildlife, and many 
other aspects of our daily lives and our American heritage. On top of 
all of this, we are seeing higher water levels in our oceans and 
estuaries, including in and around my home State of Delaware.
  Sea level rises essentially for two different reasons. First, as the 
planet's ice sheets are melting, they are adding to the amount of water 
in the ocean. But second, saltwater actually expands as it warms. So as 
the planet's average temperature rises, so does the level of its 
saltwater seas.
  The fact that Earth's oceans are rising each year is not new 
information. It has been rising for as long as we have been keeping 
track. What is jarring, though, is that the rate of rise is increasing 
steadily and significantly.
  When the data was tracked between 1870 and 1930, sea level was rising 
at a rate of just under 4 inches per hundred years. Over the next 60 
years, the sea level rose at a doubled rate of 8 inches per hundred 
years. And then just over the last 20 years, sea level has been rising 
at a rate of more than 12 inches per hundred years.
  The water is rising. For those of us from coastal States, in 
particular for those in Delaware, it is rising fast. At just 60 feet, 
Delaware actually has the lowest mean elevation of any State in the 
United States, already making it more susceptible to sea level rise. 
But here is the thing. We also have another challenge in that the land 
itself is also sinking. There is a documented vertical movement of the 
Earth's crust underneath the MidAtlantic coast referred to as 
subsidence. It has been happening in Delaware since the last ice age, 
at a pace of roughly 2 millimeters every year. I know 2 millimeters 
does not sound like much, but it adds up to another 4 inches per 
century.
  In total, that means you have got, between the water rising and the 
land sinking, making climate change and sea level rise specifically a 
very real issue for my State and for many other coastal States. An 
array of scientists of many different disciplines and backgrounds has 
studied this in and outside of the U.S. Government. They have developed 
three models for future scenarios.
  In the most conservative model, by the year 2100, the sea level in 
Delaware will rise above half a meter or about a foot and a half. In 
another middle range model, the water in Delaware will rise by a full 
meter. In the most troubling model, it will rise 1.5 meters or about 5 
feet between now and the end of this century. Unfortunately, at 
present, the scientific consensus, their shared estimate, is this is 
the most likely model.
  Well, let's try to make that real, as we have in Delaware through a 
whole series of planning exercises to engage our coastal communities. 
Here is what these different projections look like in

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Bowers Beach, DE. It only takes half a meter of sea level rise, shown 
here, before much of this community close to Dover Air Force Base in 
Kent County, DE, is underwater a half a meter, the most conservative 
scenario. By the end of the century, the majority of this community is 
underwater. At a meter and a half--the most likely scenario in current 
estimates--the town is virtually gone.
  Here is another chart which we shared with our communities in 
Delaware of sea level rise. It is a look at South Wilmington. The city 
of Wilmington, where I live, is very close to the Delaware River. It 
has a whole lot of low-lying areas, this part of the largest city in 
our State.
  As water rises in the Atlantic, it also rises up the Delaware Bay and 
the Delaware River and the Christina River which runs through most of 
New Castle County and through this part of Wilmington. The water rises 
through the Peterson Wildlife Refuge as well. The impacts are 
devastating.
  We are talking about water every day more than half a foot higher 
than Delaware experienced during Superstorm Sandy. You can see from the 
conservative to the moderate to the most likely scenario, it floods, it 
impacts, and it eliminates, wipes out, puts underwater most of South 
Wilmington.
  The calculation of whether we are going to be hit with half a meter, 
a full meter or a meter and a half of sea level rise comes down to a 
question of the rate of acceleration of climate change globally. It is 
also implicated in the question of whether we should be trying to slow 
the rate at which climate change is affecting our planet and maybe even 
have some hope of turning the tide. This is the part of climate change 
policy known as mitigation. Priority one in this strategy is reducing, 
cutting the emissions we are pumping into our atmosphere that are 
driving this change. To do it, we need to diversify our energy sources, 
reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Clean energy technology, energy 
efficiency programs, public transportation, recycling, and many others 
could help cut down on these emissions. But it will require a global 
and coordinated effort to avoid or minimize these projected devastating 
local impacts.
  The second part of climate change policy is adaptation. It is based 
on accepting the reality our climate is changing and that it will have 
real effects on our planet and our communities. The truth is, even if 
we stopped all greenhouse gas emissions today, if we shut down our 
current powerplants, stopped driving our current automobiles, stopped 
drilling, using gas-powered equipment on our farms or trains or ships, 
the amount of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere would still 
take decades to dissipate.
  Changes in the world's climate are at this point inevitable. It is 
already happening and affecting our communities. We can expect these 
impacts to intensify and accelerate as the climate continues to change. 
In my view, we need to accept these facts and modify our behavior to 
prevent these effects from becoming cumulatively catastrophic. We can 
make better choices now to prevent a disaster later.
  In Delaware, for example, we have had two laws on the books for 
decades that helped us to adapt. The first law, championed in 1971 by 
then-Republican Governor Russ Peterson, was called the Coastal Zone Act 
and prohibited future industrial development on a vital swath of 
coastal land, allowing the State and Federal Government to preserve it 
and to reduce the impacts of flooding and coastal erosion on these 
vital wetland areas.
  The second law empowered our State to protect and replenish the 
State's beaches, including beaches on the Delaware Bay which are so 
often overlooked. This has allowed the State to build a series of berm-
and-dune systems that protect infrastructure and prevent private 
property from being washed away. Instead of running away from the 
science, Delaware's leaders have embraced it. The State agency that 
manages environmental issues for Delaware is known as DNREC. Under 
Secretary Collin O'Mara's able leadership, it has taken the lead on a 
governmentwide project to assess our State's vulnerability to sea level 
rise and to recommend actions for adaptation.
  In fact, Delaware's Sea Level Rise Advisory Committee, whose report I 
have here, spent 18 months looking at 79 different Statewide resources, 
vital entities: roads and bridges, fire stations, schools, tourist 
hotspots, wetlands, and, of course, our people, their homes, their 
businesses, and layered them on various maps as I have shown, which 
demonstrated how far the water would reach at different projected sea 
levels.
  If sea level gets to 1.5 meters, we lose more than 10 percent of our 
State, the water claims 20,000 residential properties, and significant 
percentages of the State parks and wetlands, farms, highways, 
industrial sites, rail lines. In Delaware we could lose 21 miles of 
rail lines to flooding, effectively shutting down Amtrak's Northeast 
corridor. The vital Port of Wilmington would be rendered useless in its 
current footprint. Nearly all the State's acreage of protected wetlands 
would be inundated, destroyed. Nearly three-quarters of the State's 
dams, dikes, and levies that we use to hold back the bay would be 
flooded. It would be simply devastating to our State.
  So to those who say: Oh, a few feet of water rising over a century is 
a modest amount, something we can plan for, something we do not need to 
be alarmed about, I think this detailed and thorough study demonstrates 
the devastating consequences to my home State, a State that would lose 
11 percent of its territory in the worst-case scenario.
  Our own Secretary of Natural Resources Collin O'Mara said:

       We are looking at big risks for human health and safety, 
     and not just at the Delaware Bay beaches. We have big 
     concerns about south Wilmington, Delaware City and New 
     Castle. It's more complex than just the bay beaches or a 
     community here or there.

  I believe he is right. So once again, if we remember, we have two 
basic approaches--adaptation and mitigation. Once Delaware compiled its 
200-page vulnerability assessment on sea level rise, the committee got 
to work on an adaptation strategy to protect our State. They came up 
with more than 60 options and released them publicly, hosting a whole 
series of townhall meetings to solicit public opinion before the State 
decides which strategy to implement.
  The committee is also now working on a broader vulnerability 
assessment to examine the full range of impacts from climate change--
even beyond sea level rise--changing temperatures, extreme weather, and 
changes in precipitation. These are impacts which will affect even more 
of our neighbors.
  Climate change will affect the distribution, abundance and behavior 
of wildlife, as well as the diversity, structure, and function of our 
complex ecosystems. We are already seeing changes in natural patterns. 
Many commercial and recreational fish stocks along the east coast have 
moved northward 25 to 200 miles over the last 40 years as ocean 
temperatures have steadily but modestly increased, deeply impacting our 
fishing industries and our fishing-reliant communities.
  Scientists expect migratory species to be strongly affected by 
climate change since animal migration is closely connected to climatic 
factors, and migratory species use multiple habitats and resources 
during their migrations. These changes are impacting the multibillion-
dollar waterfowl hunting industry vital to my State. It is an important 
economic driver to Delaware and a vital part of our heritage.
  According to the draft National Climate Assessment released in 
February, our farmers are expected to adapt relatively well to the 
changing climate over the next 25 years. However, later, as 
temperatures increase and precipitation extremes become more intense, 
crop yields and production of livestock and poultry are expected to 
decline. More extreme weather events, including droughts and heavy 
downpours, will further reduce yields, damage soil, stress irrigation 
water supplies, and increase production costs.
  I am proud of my State. I am proud Delaware was the first State to 
assess its vulnerability and the vulnerability of specific resources in 
as comprehensive a way as it has. We are determined

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to confront these changes to our planet head on, protect our own 
communities, and to protect the way of life we have built. It is an 
approach which many other States should replicate.
  The private sector has a vital role to play, and they are not waiting 
around for action in this Chamber by the Federal Government. We are 
already seeing a lot of our companies taking steps on their own to be 
more sustainable. I see this all the time at home when I visit 
companies in Delaware, such as Phillips, Kraft, DuPont, Perdue, and 
Mountaire. This Chamber may still be debating climate change, whether 
it is real, and what if anything we should do. These companies in 
communities in our State are reducing their water use, reducing power 
consumption, slimming their footprint, and finding ways to be energy 
efficient. They are doing this not only because it is good for the 
planet, but because it is good for the bottom line. They have learned 
in measurable ways that reducing their operating costs is good for 
business and good for the planet.
  Frankly, there is only so much the Federal Government can do as far 
as adapting to climate change. It still plays a very important role, 
which States and the private sector alone cannot. The Federal 
Government can ensure States have accurate data on climate trends over 
the long term on which to base its assessments and calculations; invest 
in tidal gauges that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, or NOAA, maintains off all of our coasts, which are 
critical to monitoring sea level rise; and support the satellites 
overhead which track changing weather patterns.
  The Federal Government facilitates technology transfer and 
information sharing provides technical assistance and guidance to 
States and regions such as ours and initiates collaboration and 
coordination among partners, which is essential. From the U.S. Global 
Change Research Program, the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task 
Force, to the CDC's grant program to help State and local health 
departments assess risks the Federal Government is doing a lot. Given 
the scope and the dire consequences, we need to do more.
  This President and this administration understand, but what role can 
and should Congress play? In my view we need to also lead in the area 
of mitigation, to support the executive branch as they continue to help 
States with adaptation. We need to invest wisely in our efforts to 
combat and prepare for climate change.
  I have been a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources 
Committee for more than 2 years. We have seen some ambitious plans to 
do our part in mitigation, many of which I have supported. One proposal 
was from Senator Bingaman, former chair of the Energy Committee in the 
last Congress, to adopt a clean energy standard.
  It would have set a national goal for clean energy usage and 
establish a transparent framework that lets resources compete based on 
how clean they are, and then move out of the way and let the market and 
American ingenuity determine the best path forward. Sadly, this plan 
failed to attract any bipartisan support and did not make it out of 
committee.
  Although I am an idealist, I am also a pragmatist. I can read the 
politics of this Chamber. They are deeply divided on this issue at a 
time when we need to be coming together. Fortunately, there is 
bipartisan support for some steps to improve our Nation's energy 
efficiency. We could take up and pass the bipartisan bill recently 
introduced by Senator Shaheen and Senator Portman to increase the use 
of energy-efficient technologies in residential, commercial, and 
industrial sectors.
  We could level the playing field for financing to help new clean 
energy technologies get off the ground by giving them access to the 
same tax advantages currently utilized only by fossil fuel projects. 
The bipartisan Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act--which I will 
reintroduce later this week with a bipartisan group of my colleagues, 
Senators Moran, Stabenow, and Murkowski--would level the playing field 
for renewables and give these new technologies a fighting chance in the 
emerging energy market.
  As we take these sorts of steps and others, we must also be mindful 
of the need to reduce our Nation's dangerous deficits. We also need to 
ensure we are not taking away the tools we desperately need to prepare 
for these changes to our planet. This means sustained support for 
scientific research and protecting the programs which are channeling 
this vital data to our States.
  The bottom line in my view is the climate has already changed. We 
know this. With this knowledge comes the responsibility to reduce our 
emissions in order to mitigate the impacts and to prepare for and take 
action with regard to these coming changes.
  Climate change is happening. It is happening right now. While it may 
have local impacts, it has global causes. We ignore these at our peril. 
I believe we have a responsibility: a responsibility to God's creation, 
a responsibility to each other, a responsibility to our home States, 
and to future generations. We need to do our very best to slow this 
process, to help this planet, our only home, to survive.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business for up to 20 minutes.
       The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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