Providing for Congressional Disapproval of a Rule Submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of the Clean Power Plan and against the efforts by the majority to undermine the plan. The Clean Power Plan is vital to the environmental and economic well-being of both New Hampshire and this country. It is an important and historic step that will mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing carbon pollution from our Nation's dirtiest powerplants.

Powerplants account for nearly 40 percent of all U.S. carbon emissions. That is more than every car, every truck, and every plane in the United States combined. If we are to be successful in addressing climate change, we have to reduce the amount of pollution that is coming from this sector, and we cannot delay.

My home State of New Hampshire is doing its part to reduce carbon emissions by making smart investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency, but we do need a Federal plan to make sure our country moves forward together.

As Senator Whitehouse and Senator Boxer have said so eloquently, the verdict on climate change is in. It is a reality that must be addressed. Study after study reinforces the overwhelming consensus that global temperatures are steadily rising and contributing to more extreme weather events and changes in our environment.

We are seeing that firsthand in New Hampshire, where climate records show a steady increase in yearly temperatures and annual precipitation amounts continue to grow. As a result, climate change is affecting New Hampshire's tourism and outdoor recreation economy, which are really so important to our State. Tourism is the second largest industry in New Hampshire. Each year hundreds of thousands of sportsmen and wildlife watchers come to New Hampshire to enjoy our natural resources. Hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation contribute nearly $4.2 billion to the New Hampshire economy each year. But rising temperatures are affecting our fall foliage season, which has just ended. We are seeing fewer snow days, which impacts skiing and snowmobiling, and ice out on our lakes is happening earlier each year.

We heard Senator Whitehouse talking about the impact on fisheries in Rhode Island. We have seen that in New Hampshire as well, where cod stocks in the North Atlantic and the Gulf of Maine have been reduced so precipitously that it has devastated New Hampshire's fishing industry.

We are also seeing changes in our State's maple syrup industry. New Hampshire produces more than 100,000 gallons of maple syrup annually. It is the third largest maple producer in the New England States. Maple syrup production is entirely dependent on weather conditions. Any change, no matter how slight, can throw off production and endanger the industry. Trees require warm days and cold nights to create the optimal sugar content and sap production. The changing climate is putting more stress on sugar maples, affecting syrup production.

According to a report by the New Hampshire Citizens for a Responsible Energy Policy, ``current modeling forecasts predict that maple sugar trees eventually will be completely eliminated as a regionally important species in the northeastern United States.''

If we look at this chart, we can see the red here is elm, ash, and cottonwood. We see the green is oak and pine and oak and hickory. This is 1960 to 1990. This is a current look at what is happening with our trees in New Hampshire and New England. This darker red that we see here, which is almost all of New Hampshire, is maple, beech and birch trees. That is what things look like today. By 2070, you can see there are no more maple trees left in New Hampshire and all of New England. There are very few elm, ash, and cottonwoods. There is a little bit in New York. They have all moved to the West and the North.

If we fail to act on climate change, we are going to lose these trees, lose the industry, and lose our fall foliage because maples are so important to the fall foliage. Climate change is also a threat to our wildlife and their habitats.

In New Hampshire, the moose is a vital part of our State's culture, and yet, as a result of climate change, we have seen a 40-percent decline in the moose population. It is hard to see. You can see that this moose looks very distressed, as does this one. What looks like little knobs on this moose's tail are ticks. Those ticks are there because with the warmer winters, insects and ticks are not dying off. They infested our moose population, which is down 40 percent.

Climate change is also impacting the health of New Hampshire's families. New Hampshire has one of the highest childhood asthma rates in the country. Rising temperatures increase smog levels. They heighten the effects of allergy season. All of those things imperil the health of vulnerable populations in New Hampshire, which is already the tailpipe. New England is the tailpipe of the central part of the country. So all of the pollution that is being created in the Midwest by those powerplants that are spewing out fossil fuels is coming on the air currents to New Hampshire and to New England.

I am proud to say that Granite Staters have recognized the effects of climate change, and New Hampshire has been a leader in reducing pollution. We are one of nine Northeastern States that are part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. As a result, New Hampshire has already reduced its power sector carbon pollution by 49 percent since 2008. Because of the initiative of the State and local communities, New Hampshire is on track to meet the Clean Power Plan's carbon reduction goals 10 years early. We are going to be there by 2020, rather than 2030.

In addition, New Hampshire is investing in clean energy, using proceeds from emissions permits sold at RGGI auctions. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a cap-and-trade system that is working in the nine Northeastern States. In 2012, New Hampshire invested 94 percent of those funds from the program in energy efficiency and renewable energy programs that directly benefit New Hampshire residents.

I had a chance last week to visit the western part of the State and a town named Peterborough. Actually, ``Our Town,'' the play by Thornton Wilder, is written about Peterborough. They have built the largest solar array in New Hampshire, and they are using it to power their wastewater treatment. Selling excess power into the grid and reducing the town's other energy costs, they are saving between $25,000 and $50,000 a year.

What is so exciting to me is that when this project came up at a town meeting for a vote, it passed unanimously. Yesterday I had a chance to visit Middleton, NH. I went to Lavalley/Middleton Lumber. It is a sawmill that produces pine boards for Diprizio Lumber. In 2006, they installed a very large wood-fired boiler. They are able to use the byproducts from the sawmill to fire the boiler, using combined heat and power. Not only are they able to heat their complex, but they are also able to provide the generation that they need for power to run the mills. As a result of this, they are saving $700,000 a year on their power bills.

New Hampshire has shown that we can take advantage of moving to renewable energy sources. We can make smart energy choices that benefit the environment and yet strengthen our economy. Nationally, the Clean Power Plan is projected to cut carbon emissions by millions of tons per year and generate tens of billions of dollars a year in health and climate benefits.

It is good for the economy. That is why 81 major companies, including four in New Hampshire, have signed a letter pledging to support new initiatives that may emerge from the global conference on climate change in Paris in December.

America's Clean Power Plan is a powerful demonstration of our global leadership on climate change, and it will allow the United States to lead with credibility and authority at the Paris conference.

We all know--or at least those people who are willing to acknowledge what the research shows--that climate change represents an enormous challenge, but solutions are within reach if we put in place policies that allow for action. We have a responsibility to help protect our children and our grandchildren from the severe consequences of global warming by taking action now. It is time to move forward with the Clean Power Plan without delay. It is time to stop short-circuiting efforts to reduce carbon pollution in this country.

I urge my colleagues to stop standing in the way of this important effort to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

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