[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 464]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          SAFE CLIMATE CAUCUS

  (Mr. PETERS of California asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. PETERS of California. Mr. Speaker, in southern California and 
across the American West, 2013 was another year of extremely dry 
conditions. And as of today, snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountain 
range, which is our water storage facility, is well below its seasonal 
average.
  In 2011 and 2012, drought and heat waves cost the United States $90 
billion in economic damages, further evidence of the economic harm we 
are enduring due to climate change and increasingly extreme weather. 
2012 saw the worst drought in the country in 50 years, with more than 
80 percent of the country designated a drought disaster-affected area 
by late November. Since the year 2000, there have been nine droughts 
that have each cost more than $1 billion in damages.
  Research from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, sponsored by 
the Climate Initiative at The San Diego Foundation, has shown that in 
San Diego the main effects of climate change are rising sea levels, 
more intense wildfires, and increased pressure on water supplies.
  It is time to get serious about climate change so that we can protect 
our scarce water resources that hydrate our farms and our families.
  Go, Chargers.

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