[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10929-10930]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, this is the 105th time I have come to 
the Senate floor to urge my colleagues to wake up to the reality of 
climate change. I know the Presiding Officer is a veteran of several of 
these speeches. For far too long, far too many of us in this Chamber 
have simply dismissed the evidence of climate change. They have ignored 
the sober warnings of scientists, generals, of doctors, of economists, 
even of big company CEOs that these risks are real. The warnings are 
clear: If we continue on our present path, we will leave our children 
and grandchildren with a world very different from our own and not for 
the better.
  By denying the science, dismissing the risks or simply by their 
silence, Senate Republicans have effectively pledged allegiance to the 
fossil fuel companies--companies that make a lot of money polluting the 
atmosphere with carbon emissions and that spend big on politics.
  Outside this Chamber, however, the American people want action. 
Americans overwhelmingly favor limits on greenhouse gases and getting 
more electricity from renewables. It is happening across the country. 
It is definitely true in Rhode Island, my home State, but it is not 
just Rhode Islanders.
  Over this past recess, I went to Tennessee. I found that people in 
the Volunteer State see the effects, they see the risks, and they see 
the opportunities that come with climate change.
  In Knoxville, I met with Mayor Madeline Rogero, and I heard about the 
great work she is doing. Knoxville is making their infrastructure more 
resilient to flooding and storms and working to reduce its greenhouse 
gas emissions, partnering with local utilities and citizens groups. 
Greenhouse gas emissions from the city's operations were down 12 
percent in 2014, compared to 2005. Their goal is to make it to 20 
percent.
  Mayor Rogero told me about the risks climate change poses in Eastern 
Tennessee: changes in the Smoky Mountains parks nearby, programs like 
Round It Up that help people with utility bills getting hammered by 
earlier, hotter summer weather. She told me Knoxville wasn't alone. 
Even little Ducktown, TN, built a 28-kilowatt solar array.
  I visited Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is researching how 
climate change will affect Tennessee and the United States and the rest 
of the world. Let me tell you, they are not doubting climate change at 
Oak Ridge. They are planning for it. They are modeling warming up to 18 
degrees Fahrenheit in the vast boreal forest regions of the Northern 
Hemisphere.
  They are concerned about the phony science being propagated by the 
fossil fuel industry front groups--what I have called the parallel 
science designed to look like science without actually being peer-
reviewed or meeting the standards--and they are saddened to see the 
public taken in and Congress stalled. They have a brilliant animation 
of industrial-era carbon emissions climate. If I could use a monitor 
instead of this piece of cardboard I would show it to you, but I can't. 
So you will have to find it. You can go to my website where I have a 
link: whitehouse.senate.gov/climatechange.
  One employee at Oak Ridge, a Tennessean who had grown up nearby, told 
me about the recent trouble with fire ants. The fire ant is an invasive 
species from South America that can deliver a nasty sting. She said 
growing up she had never seen them--not a worry. Now she has to worry 
about a swarm of them getting on her children. Normally, cold nights 
and winter freezes limit the range of the fire ant. But this invasive 
species has moved north into Tennessee with the warming temperatures.
  For those colleagues who believe the only values that matter are 
those that can be monetized, the USDA estimates that U.S. losses to the 
invasive fire ant are almost $6 billion a year.
  Fire ants aren't the only invasive pests that benefit from warmer 
nights and winters. The threat of the invading emerald ash borer and 
the Asian longhorned beetle means that campers visiting Tennessee can't 
bring their own firewood into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park 
anymore. As of March 1, only heat-treated firewood is allowed, 
certified by the USDA or the State.
  Climate change threatens the Great Smoky Mountains with much more 
than invasive species. The national park may lose up to 17 percent of 
the mammals that presently live there as climate change shifts their 
habitat and changes the composition of the forest.
  The Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency says that ``Tennessee's 
wildlife and natural resources face a serious threat from climate 
change.'' The agency did a comprehensive assessment of the potential 
effects climate change would have on the State's wildlife. These are 
some of its key findings:

       Tennessee's forests are expected to undergo changes in 
     forest growth and composition. . . . [S]ome high elevation 
     forest types will be dramatically impacted or lost entirely; 
     brook trout populations are expected to decline; migratory 
     songbirds may alter their ranges, with some species 
     disappearing from Tennessee altogether; and larger floods and 
     longer droughts could cause increased erosion, reduced water 
     supply, and the spread of invasive species.

  Meeting with local environmental leaders and advocates at the 
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, I learned that air quality is 
another significant problem for the Volunteer State, especially in 
Eastern Tennessee.
  Here is a map I got from them showing the counties that still get a D 
or an F for air quality: Sullivan County, D; Knox County, D; Loudon 
County, D; Jefferson County, D; Sevier County, F; Blount County, F; 
Hamilton County, which has Chattanooga in it, F; Cannon County, D; 
Wilson County, F; Williamson County, F; Shelby County, F.
  If you fix the carbon pollution from the coal plants, you will fix a 
lot of these air quality problems, too, and these air quality problems 
in the famous Great Smoky Mountains. They were smoky enough, I guess, 
to begin with. This is not helping.

[[Page 10930]]

  I also learned of the threats posed by flooding from storms. In May 
2010, a massive storm rolled over Tennessee and caused $1.5 billion 
damage in Nashville alone. FEMA declared disaster areas in 30 counties 
and more than 60,000 families received Federal aid. Precipitation has 
measurably increased in parts of Tennessee during the last century, and 
as climate change continues, heavy rains and extreme weather are 
expected to increase. For fishermen, in addition to the warming of the 
stream water, streams that are blown out by extreme rains are bad for 
trout fishing.
  In Tennessee I also saw great hope for climate action. Mayor Rogero 
is working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to design a climate 
change sustainability plan for Knoxville and the area around it, 
including the lab campus. The laboratory is also a leading research 
center for advanced nuclear technology, including small modular 
reactors that could help unlock low-carbon energy with reduced risk of 
accidents or proliferation.
  Tennessee is ripe with wind and solar potential, and the famous 
Tennessee Valley Authority, after a slow start, is getting around to 
renewables investments and supporting distributed generation. The TVA 
has learned from things such as having to derate powerplants on the 
Tennessee River because the river grew too warm to cool the thermal 
load of the plant and seeing giant demand sways from 12,000 to 35,000 
megawatts.
  I met with University of Tennessee professors who are helping the TVA 
make the move. The University of Tennessee has entire programs on 
climate change. They are not denying it. They have professors such as 
Dean Rivkin at the College of Law, Mary English at the Howard Baker 
Center, and John Nolt, recently the head of the faculty senate, who has 
written on the moral importance of counting climate casualties. By the 
way, Professor Nolt cites studies showing global deaths from the 
consequences of climate change every year in the range of 140,000, 
300,000 and 400,000. But why should we care?
  Private companies get it in Tennessee. I heard a lot about Wampler's 
Farm Sausage, headquartered in Lenoir City, which has invested in solar 
and biomass energy production to cut down on energy bills and provide 
stability to its business. For them it is about business and the 
environment. The company sees consumer demand ahead for sustainably 
produced products. In the words of company president Ted Wampler, Jr., 
``being green is going to sell sausage.''
  I had a nice dinner with lovely people from the Knoxville Garden 
Club. Some had come to Congress for the annual garden club trip to urge 
Congress to take action. They see in their garden the changes that are 
reflected in the USDA plant hardiness zone for Knoxville shifting in 
their very lifetimes.
  A highlight of the trip was the annual meeting of the Outdoor Writers 
Association of America. I was invited by the executive director, Tom 
Saddler, and joined a panel with Dr. Cameron Wake from the University 
of New Hampshire, Hal Herring from Field & Stream magazine, and Todd 
Tanner, the president of Conservation Hawks. I urge anybody who is 
listening to this to take 10 minutes and look at the fly fishing clip 
``Cold Waters'' on the Conservation Hawk's Web site. It is called 
co2ldwaters.org, but the trick is there is a ``2'' in the middle. The 
Web site is co2ldwaters.org. One thing was crystal clear from our panel 
and from the discussion that followed, and that is this: Real 
outdoorsmen don't deny climate change. If you don't believe me, believe 
legendary outdoorsman Yvon Chouinard. Look at the clip at 
co2ldwaters.org.
  If we in this Chamber could wake up and stop denying this problem, we 
could do a lot to help. Real legislative action, such as a price on 
carbon, could unlock energy innovation and it could make the fat-cat, 
politician-buying polluters actually compete fair and square on a level 
playing field with clean energy. Of course they would rather not. They 
would rather pollute the world and rig the politics to rig the 
competition so they can keep polluting for free.
  If you think from my comments that I am mad about the disgraceful 
political conduct of the oil and coal barons, well, you are right; I 
am. It is sickening. It is a disgrace. And no, it is not good enough to 
say just enough good things about climate change to get through a 
cocktail party at Davos, while you keep your corporate money flowing to 
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute, and 
other denial front groups to stop progress at all costs. You can't have 
it both ways. I will know the Big Oil CEOs are serious when they 
publicly tell the Wall Street Journal editorial page that it is OK to 
knock off the climate denial.
  What I would like is to take their high-priced lobbyists, to take 
their slippery lawyers, to take their paid-for bogus scientists and put 
them all up in the high country for a week with Yvon Chouinard or 
someone like him who really loves and knows the country they are 
wrecking. It just might be good for their souls.
  Senator Schatz and I have a bill to level the energy playing field by 
levying a carbon fee on fossil fuel emissions. In our bill every nickel 
collected goes back to the American people, and most of it goes back 
through cutting taxes. When it is time for Republicans to break free of 
this filthy grip the fossil fuel industry has, we will be there. We 
will be there, and we will be waiting. Take a look at our bill. It 
would be a win-win-win for the American people, and it aligns with what 
so many Republicans outside of Congress are saying about the correct 
solution to the climate problem.
  I hope my Republican colleagues, particularly my friends from 
Tennessee, take a close look at it. Both Senators from Tennessee 
recognize human-caused climate change. The senior Senator, our friend 
who has just done such a masterful job of bringing this elementary and 
secondary education bill to the floor and steering it so far through 
this process, is a renowned champion of clean energy research and of 
electric vehicles.
  Tennessee's junior Senator said in 2009, when cap-and-trade ideas 
were swirling:

       I wish we would just talk about a carbon tax, 100 percent 
     of which would be returned to the American people. So there's 
     no net dollars that would come out of the American people's 
     pockets.

  Gentlemen, that is our bill. I am open to this discussion any time, 
but let's please not wait too long. As they know at Oak Ridge, as they 
know in the mayor's offices in Knoxville and Ducktown, as they know at 
the University of Tennessee, and as the rangers know up in the Great 
Smoky Mountains, time's a wasting, and we need to wake up.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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