[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8009]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN CALIFORNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McNerney) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to a 
recent University of California at Davis study on some effects that 
climate change will have in California. This report looks at habitat 
and temperature sensitivity for fish species within the State.
  California has a diverse and robust ecosystem, as well as the largest 
estuary in the Western Hemisphere, namely the Sacramento-San Joaquin 
Delta. The delta and its tributaries are home to an amazing variety of 
native species that must be protected. The study found that, of 121 
native fish species in California, more than 80 percent will be 
critically endangered as a result of climate change. At the same time, 
nonnative or invasive species will survive at a much higher rate.
  We must take action now to address climate change, which is starting 
to affect every aspect of our daily lives, including our water quality, 
flood risk, more severe weather--including hurricanes, tornadoes, and 
droughts--and the extinction of native species. The destruction posed 
by climate change to the natural resources we depend on for our daily 
sustenance is too great.
  Global warming is here. It's dangerous, and we need to take action 
now. The longer we wait, the more difficult and costly the fixes will 
be, and the more our fellow human beings across the world will suffer.

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