[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9306]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     EPA CARBON POLLUTION STANDARDS

  (Mr. HOLT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Speaker Boehner said he was not 
qualified to debate the science of climate change, but he was confident 
that all plans to deal with climate change would hurt jobs and our 
economy.
  Mr. Speaker, I am a scientist, but that doesn't uniquely qualify me 
to debate climate change. As Members of Congress, we rely on the 
expertise of others to inform our decisionmaking.
  And I agree with the overwhelming consensus among scientists: the 
climate is changing largely as a result of human activities, and we can 
and must act now--not because I am, myself, a scientist, but because of 
peer-reviewed reports, like the IPCC and the National Climate 
Assessment.
  Less than a year ago, in a speech announcing his Climate Action Plan, 
President Obama said that he would direct ``the Environmental 
Protection Agency to put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon 
pollution.'' This coming Monday, the President will make good on his 
promise when the EPA proposes the first-ever limits on carbon pollution 
from existing power plants, which are responsible for about 40 percent 
of U.S. carbon pollution.
  We, as a country, have already been forced to endure the costs of 
unlimited carbon pollution as more frequent and intense extremes 
continue to cost us in lives and dollars. While the draft carbon 
pollution rules have yet to be released, of this I am sure: no matter 
the perceived cost of action, the costs of inaction will be far 
greater.

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